


To Break a Heart

by soulSymphony



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Background Relationships, Canon Typical Violence, Drinking Games, Drug Use, Drunken Shenanigans, F/F, F/M, Fluff, Flushed Romance | Matesprits, Hangover, Humanstuck, I dont know the name lol, Multi, Pale Romance | Moirallegiance, Pale gamkat, Pale kanaya & vriska, Party, Quadrant Vacillation, Tags added as they appear, Underage Drinking, Underage Drug Use, vriskat - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-10-20
Updated: 2016-06-08
Packaged: 2018-04-27 08:30:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 43,900
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5041270
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/soulSymphony/pseuds/soulSymphony
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Vriska Serket was considered a bitch; she was a girl people wanted to see brought down.</p><p>Karkat Vantas' friends were some of those people. </p><p>With a little persuasion and an evil idea, the two's fate intertwine, but for better or for worst?</p><p>[99% chance the title and summary will change in the future]</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, wow. This has a really rough start, and I promise it will get better. I'm new to this whole writing thing and I've been planning on writing this for awhile now so.

Vriska Serket was pretty, stunning actually, according to her peers. She would tell you herself that she was. With long black locks and pale skin, she easily could turn heads. She wasn't necessarily the curviest, but she was not lanky (not that that is bad thing). She did care about her looks, mainly for herself, but not as much as most girls did.

Vriska was not a genius, but she was quite intelligent. Some things like science and history didn't come naturally, but she had the determination to sit down and study. She had common sense, which plenty of people she knew lacked. 

Vriska wasn't unpopular, but she wasn't necessarily liked. She just didn't get along well with others even if she tried. She had very few friends. Scratch that, she only has one friend and she can't even handle being around that one really good friend for very long. She just got irritated quickly and it was hard to keep her fury under wraps once it was unleashed.

Sighing, she exited her house and started to head towards her destination. The late-summer sun was already out and beat heat down on her as she walked down the sidewalk to her school. She got lost in her thoughts as she wandered down the narrow pathway. A few moments later, Vriska was brought back to reality by her one friend, Kanaya Maryam.

Kanaya Maryam was a gorgeous girl with a knack for designing clothes and helping others out. All of this was accented by just the right amount of skillfully wielded sarcasm. 

She was the only person who bothered to stand by Vriska's side throughout all her hardships. She didn't care that Vriska was rough around the edges. She saw what good was in Vriska and fought for that side of her, even if it didn't come out often.

"Good morning, Vriska," she said in her elegant tone as usual. She was dressed flawlessly as usual. Her short hair perfectly in place, makeup not missing a beat, skirt at a proper yet cute length, and a shirt that went with it accordingly. Vriska yawned, "Hello, Kanaya."

"How is your mother?" Her friend politely replied, joining her in her walk to school. Vriska rolled her eyes, "Gosh, you talk to me as if you are one of my older cousins in a gas station or something. She's an angry perfectionist as usual."

"I am so sorry I was trying to be polite."

Their conversation went on like that, with Kanaya meddling and Vriska getting irritated, until they arrived at the school. 

Once the bell rang signaling the start of class, Kanaya and Vriska would go their separate ways for a majority of the day. They had very few classes together, and in ones they did share, they sat on opposite sides of the room.

Her first few classes went on as normal and finally it was lunch time. Vriska strode to her locker, ignoring the whispers she received on the way there. She flung the locker door open, grabbed her lunch, and slammed it shut. She refused to eat the slop they called lunch, so she brought her own.

She walked out the back exit of the school and parkoured her way to the roof. Vriska always ate by herself on the school's rooftop. The only other person who knew how to get up there besides her was Kanaya, and that was only because she meddled and watched until she figured out how. It wasn't necessarily hard to get onto the roof, just no one was crazy enough to try.

She stood upright on the rooftop, letting the autumn breeze flow through her dark locks. It was calming, letting the wind cascade around her as she watched people interact beneath her. 

Vriska didn't mind being alone, and never thought she would.

...

Karkat Vantas trudged through the hallways of the school, rushing to get outside to his spot before any of the other students could. He reached the shaded table towards the side of the campus and was thankful no one had took his usual seat. He plopped down on the bench and took a deep breath. Maybe his day wasn't going to get shittier. He would sit by himself and meditate on his life and all would be go-

"Hey, best friend."

So much for being alone. He looked up to see one of his friends, Gamzee Makara, looming over him. Something seemed different about him though. The clown makeup was still here, his hair was still messy, and his clothes didn't match. Everything looked the same. He sat down on the wooden bench across from him and it was then when Karkat realized what was wrong.

He didn't smell like cigarettes.

Gamzee without cigarettes was a bad thing.

When he didn't have his smokes, he was oddly pissed off about everything. Most things sent him off into a psychotic rage. Usually if he didn't have his cigarettes, his mild addiction to Faygo would help stifle his anger. 

Karkat glanced at Gamzee's hands- he didn't have any Faygo.

Shit. 

Well, this was going to be an interesting lunch. 

Before Karkat could address the Capricorn, a grape Faygo and a package of cigarettes was dropped in front of the duo. There stood Sollux Captor, who at the current moment was Karkat's savior. Gamzee cheered, "Bro, you got me some cigs and a bottle of motherfucking faygo. You, sir, are the shit."

"Tavros text me earlier telling to me to pick you up some. The last thing we need is you punching another hole in the school wall," Sollux replied, his lisp evident in his voice. He sat down next to Karkat and pulled out his phone. The teenager was quite skilled with any form of technology, and his nimble fingers moved faster than what was considered human. Karkat was momentarily jealous at how quickly the boy texted, but the feeling soon fled.

A boy with a mohawk came and sat down next to the unusually docile, nicotine-sober Gamzee. He beat his package of cigarettes against the table, "Man, Tavbro, thanks for reminding Sollux to get my motherfucking cigs."

"Uh, it was no problem," Tavbro, better known as Tavros Nitram, replied. He was a smaller boy with a lack of self esteem. He had a bit of a stutter, and even if it wasn't bad, it was noticeable. He had a slight limp from an accident that involved him breaking both of his legs when he was younger. 

After pulling out a cancer stick and putting it in his mouth, Gamzee dug around in his pocket and yelled out in irritation when his pockets didn't produce a lighter. Eridan Ampora came to the rescue as he approached the table, throwing him one as he sat down next to Tavros. Gamze gave him a nod and lit the cigarette, its fumes dispersing into the air. 

Eridan Ampora could be best described as a lovesick hipster. He usually adorned a scarf and RayBans (which he actually needed in order to see), and he actually ran a well organized blog - not that Karkat had looked it up or anything. 

Karkat looked around the table; gang's all here.

A few tables towards the school, a boy stood up from his seat and yelled, "Hey spiderbitch! Did you climb your web to get up there?"

"Why don't you go fuck yourself? I got up here because I have all of the skills. All of them," a girl yelled back from the school's rooftop. He didn't need to see her up close to know who that was. Vriska Serket.

Gamzee growled, Tavros looked away, Eridan sighed, and Sollux gripped his phone a bit tighter when they saw the pale skinned girl. It was easy to see she had caused some distress within the group. Karkat personally didn't have any bad encounters with her, but there were plenty of ways through association that they were connected.

"Why must such a beautiful girl be such a bitch?" Eridan mumbled. He had been quite openly crushing on her for practically all of their high school years, and proclaimed his love for her often - which she usually shut down with a quick "Eridork, go kiss Feferi's ass instead." Sollux scoffed, "It's probably her appearance that makes her a bitch. With her confidence and all."

"Uh, I don't think she really means to be like that," Tavros interjected, actually taking up for her. Gamzee practically dropped his cigarette. He said, "Tavbro, you do realize she knocked you down the motherfucking stairs yesterday, right?"

"Well, yeah-"

"And she makes fun of you on a motherfucking daily basis."

It was clear that the nicotine hadn't quite kicked in yet, since he was rarely rude to Tavros - even if this was for Tav's own health.

"Okay, so-"

"She's being a bitch," Gamzee snarled, slamming his fist against the table, "I wish that someone would just hurt her one motherfucking good time, then maybe she'd quit being such a motherfucking jerk."

Yup, the nicotine had not set in yet. 

Eridan was on board with the plan. His face lit up, "If someone were to break her heart, I could slide in and whisk her off her feet."

Gamzee and Eridan's plans both had way different outcomes but both were too deep in thought to realize that. Gamzee pondered, "Someone needs to break her heart then. Yeah, that seems effective."

"Uh, guys? Isn't that a little, uh, harsh?" Tavros inquired. The duo talked over him.

"Indeed it does. Now who's gonna be the one to do it. I cannot since I play a part in the finishin' act."

"Tavbro isn't. She'd motherfucking break his first."

"Sollux is datin' Feferi so he's out of the question. And you don't exactly like her so."

"That leaves one motherfucking person."

They both simultaneously looked at Karkat, grins on their faces. He groaned, "Oh no. You two are not bringing me into this shit-storm of a plan."

"Oh, but Karkat, bein' our group leader you oughta take one for the team and do this one little thing," Eridan replied, crossing his arms. Sollux, who was being nerd lord this entire time, piped in, "It would be like one of your shitty romantic comedies."

Okay, he just wanted to bring up the romantic comedies; he probably didn't care about this plan.

"Guys, I am not going to break a girl's heart on purpose. It's not how I believe romance should be like."

"Best friend-"

"No."

"Best fri-"

"No!"

"Bes-"

"GODDAMMIT, I SAID NO."

"..."

"..."

"Best friend..."

"FINE! I'll do whatever you crusty assed douchebags want. Just shut the fuck up with all the best friend nonsense!"

"..."

"..."

"Thank you, best friend."

Karkat slammed his head into the table. He could only stand so much Gamzee, regardless if he was going through nicotine withdrawals or not.

He looked up at the school's rooftop. There sat Vriska Serket; the girl whose heart would be crushed by his hand.

What had he gotten himself into?


	2. Of Snark and Parkour

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, okay, this is really rough. I didn't exactly know how to write this chapter, but I knew how I wanted it to go so. I didn't proofread it either so kI my have to go through and edit it sometime. I promise the next chapter will be much better.

"Hey Vriska!"

Vriska turned around, her black locks falling perfectly over her shoulder as she did so. She threw him a questioning look, "Karkat Vantas? What are you talking to me for? I mean, who doesn't want to talk to me, but still."

"Well, I saw you were sitting alone at lunch the other day I figured you may want some company," he replied. Karkat internally groaned. Smooth as ever, Karkat. Great job. 

She narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest. She scoffed, "Please! Like I need your pity, Vantas. Did Terezi put you up to this?"

"She and I broke up over a month ago, shit sponge. If you got your head out of your ass, you may have realized this."

He mentally slapped himself. Okay, Vantas, this is not how you get a girl. He really needed to buy a filter for his mouth or something. 

Vriska said nothing for a moment and just analyzed his expression. Afterwards, she began to laugh, "Okay then, calm down. I see that the breakup wasn't exactly in your favor. Wellllllll, I'll make a little deal with you."

"And what may this deal be?"

"IF you can get onto the roof of the school by next Monday, you can sit with me at lunch. You'd have to figure out how to get up there in order to eat with me anyways so."

He thought on the situation for a moment. It would get him a lot closer to getting this bet over with Eridan and Gamzee if he did it, and Vriska would probably be impressed with him if he did it before the deadline. Karkat held out his hand, "Deal."

Vriska slapped her hand into his and they shook hands. "Deal. You've got about a week, Karkles."

Their connection broke and the bell rang, perfectly timed. Karkat headed to his first period class, mentally mapping out the school to find away onto the roof. 

...

Karkat did not realize how hard it was to get on the roof. He did not realize parkour was involved. He also did not realize Vriska would get there before he would so he would not be able to watch her get onto it. 

Wiping the blood from his scraped hands on his jeans, Karkat walked dejectedly to his friends' table. He sat down in his seat and Sollux nonchalantly said, "I take it roofs are hard to get on."

"Oh thank God for Sollux Captor. Scratch that, he is god. Without him we would never know the obvious. Praise be unto him."

"Eheheh. I would be pissed off at you, but making fun of someone's religion always gets me.(1)"

"Sollux, just...just shut the fuck up," he replied, pinching the bridge of his nose in frustration. Gamzee let out a puff of smoke, "Is best friend having some trouble getting up onto some motherfucking roof?"

"Oh my Sollux. Someone please shoot me in the head so I may get off of this shitty excuse for a planet and away from all of these ignorant fuckasses I call friends. What the fuck have I done to receive the mistake of friendship from such classless shitbags?" Karkat said whilst faceplaming. The nerd next to him chuckled and nudged him on the shoulder. The aggravated teen looked over at him and he retorted, "I think Serket is waving at you."

Karkat turned around fast enough to get whiplash. Vriska Serket sat on the roof, her smirk wide enough to see from afar. She gave a girly little wave at Karkat, mocking him. 

He growled under his breath and dropped his head back onto the table. It was going to be a long week.

...

The next day, Wednesday, Karkat got halfway to the roof before falling off. From what he could tell, you had to get on top of a dumpster, hop over to a fence, stay balanced long enough to move over to the awning that covered the sidewalk, and leap onto the roof.

It actually seemed pretty simple besides balancing on a fucking _fence._

Okay, he probably made that one step a little more complex than it was or he was going the wrong way

After falling onto his ass for the tenth time in a row, Karkat begrudgingly stomped off to his friends.

"Not one word," he grumbled as he fell into his seat. Sollux snickered and Karkat proceeded to knock him backwards, causing him to fall out of his seat.

He was really sick of everyone's shit.

...

On Friday, Vriska Serket happily slammed her locker shut and headed to the rooftop. Even if she forgot her lunch at home, her mood cpuld nit be dampened. She assumed Karkat had given up on getting to her rooftop at this point and there was hardly anything she loved more than winning.

She parkoured her way to the roof humming a little tune. All you had to do to get up there was climb on a dumpster, stand on a classroom's air-conditioner (she was often yelled at for getting on, but yet never for climbing onto the roof), hop onto the awning, and finally leap onto the rooftop. It was quite simple.

Vriska pulled herself onto the shingles and her feet. Then she stopped dead in her tracks.

Karkat fucking Vantas was sitting on the rooftop. A grin was slowly forming on his features. Vriska wanted to knock the smirk right off his pale face just as much as she wanted to knock him off the roof.

"Looks like I won the bet," he said. She pretended not to notice the pride in his voice. She crossed her arms and looked away, "It's easy to get up here. I'm surprised you didn't get here sooner."

"Whatever. Just come sit next to me," he retorted. Huffing, Vriska hesitantly walked across the shingles and sat down next to the dark haired boy. Karkat looked her up and down, which she responded to by narrowing her eyes at him. He asked, "Are you not going to eat lunch?"

"Why do you want to know?"

"Shit, don't start acting like a third-rate douchebag because I was curious."

Vriska then began to laugh. Karkat gave her a confused look which made her laugh even more. While regaining her composure, she replied, "Oh, Vantas. You get defensive so quick. Its actually kinda cute."

She watched as his cheeks flushed and mouth became agape. The blue eyed girl realized what she said and quickly tried to fix what she had done, "Not that I think you are cute or anything. I would never think that. Never."

Then it was Karkat's turn to laugh. It didn't take long for her to see he was laughing at her, which pissed her off. She crossed her arms and puffed out her cheeks and ended up making Karkat laugh more for some reason. He said between chuckles, "You know, Vriska, you aren't as bad as people seem to think."

She smiled and looked down at her legs. Compliments were one thing she didn't receive often. There was an insult lying within the compliment, but that could be avoided for now. As much as she hated to admit it, she was actually semi-enjoying her lunch with Karkat.

The rest of their meal went on like that, with little fits of laughter and hints of arguments. When it came time for the bell to ring, Karkat smiled, "Same time Monday?"

"Uhh, yeah. Sure," she replied, surprised he was willing to eat with her again.

For once, Vriska was making friends. Little did she know, this would evolve to much more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (1) In Sollux and Karkat's first chatlog together, Sollux says something about how insulting someone's religion always humors him and I figured I could include that somehow.


	3. Of Pesterlogs And Meddling

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A shit ton of pesterlogs I can't color since my computer is shit. I'll try to color them later on.
> 
> Oh, and they use Pesterchum instead of Trollian since it's humanstuck. Just to let you know.

grimAuxiliatrix [GA] began pestering arachnidsGrip [AG]

GA: Hello  
AG: Oh my god, whaaaaaaat?  
GA: It Honestly Amazes Me How Quickly You Get Annoyed Upon Me Speaking With You  
AG: Miss Fussyfangs.  
AG: Please.  
AG: We've been over this. I have all of the skills.  
GA: All Of Them  
AG: All of them.  
AG: G8DD8AMNIT  
GA: Also I Would Hardly Consider That A Skill  
GA: As I Was Going To Say, I Saw That You Ate Lunch With Karkat Vantas Today.  
GA: Is Something Going On That I Should Know About?  
AG: Look at you! Meddling as usual!  
AG: I swear you always meddle!!!!!!!!  
GA: With The Way You Are Getting Defensive, I Would Like To Say Something Is Going On.  
GA: Do You Have Any Irons In The Fire, By Any Chance?  
AG: I always have irons in the fire.  
AG: However, if you must know, I have no irons in the fire that involve Karkat.  
GA: Good.  
AG: Why are you so concerned anyways? I mean, you are always meddling in my 8usiness, 8ut this was very a8rupt and random.  
GA: No Reason.  
AG: Ugh, Fussyfangs, you really piss me 8ff, you kn8w that!!!!!!!!  
AG: You m8ddle const8ntly and when I 8sk for a S8MPL8 EXPL8N8TION WHY, Y8U D8N'T G8VE ME ONE!!!!!!!!  
AG: Stupid vague, supportive, meddling friend!!!!!!!! 

arachnidsGrip [AG] ceased pestering grimAuxiliatrix [GA]

Vriska dropped her head onto her desk. Kanaya was always meddling in her business, but for some reason she wanted to know her relation to Karkat. It was unusual for her to get involved with her relationships unless they were violent and she was trying to stop it. She propped her head up on her hand and thought for a moment. 

Could Kanaya have a little crush on Karkat? She laughed to herself. No, fussyfangs wouldn't ever be into someone like Vantas in that way. However, Vriska had to know why she was concerned about her and Karkat. If there was one thing Vriska hated, it was being left out of the loop. 

She thought on the situation for a moment. Well, she couldn't ask Kanaya about it because A) she wouldn't tell her anything and B) she was already irritated enough with her. 

She looked at her list of pesterchums, trying to decided who to question about the topic. The first name on her list was "adiosToreador". She laughed audibly. There was no way she was going to ask Tavros about it. He probably wouldn't even know how to reply. The next name was "twinArmageddons". He would most likely know, but there was no point of tearing open old wounds over it. "arsenicCatnip" Yeah, the freshman probably didn't know about what was going on with the seniors. Plus, she didn't want to talk to the catgirl anymore than she had to. She skipped over Kanaya's name. Next was "gallowsCalibrator". She was not going to talk to Terezi. Simple as that. She wouldn't know anyways since Karkat and her had broken up. When her eyes hit the tyrain words reading "caligulasAquarium", Vriska grinned. Eridan would probably do anything for her to get on her good side; however, she doubted he knew about Karkat and Kanaya. He ought to know Karkat's pesterchum. 

She clicked on his username and her grin widened.

arachnidsGrip [AG] began pestering caligulasAquarium [CA]

AG: Heyyyyyyyy, Eridan :::;)  
CA: vvris  
AG: Oh, that's unusual. You aren't confessing your loooooooove for me like you usually do.  
CA: wwe could say that i havve some irons in the fire  
AG: Oh really now? Look at you man-ing up like that! I never thought you could do it, Eridork.  
CA: wwell wwhat is it that you came to me for  
AG: And how do you know that I just want to ask you something?  
CA: usually you only talk to me if you wwant something  
AG: Not true! I talk to whenever I feel like it.  
CA: i sea you dont feel like it often then  
AG: Quite being all gloomy! Here I thought we were going to have an interesting conversation not you acting all depressed!  
AG: I'll just take my leave then- after I ask you oneeeeeeee question :::;)  
CA: kneww it  
AG: Do you have Karkat Vantas' pesterchum?  
CA: yeah wwhy  
AG: I'll be asking the questions here. Could you give it to me? Pleaseeeeeeee?  
CA: wwhats in it for me  
AG: Hmm. Nothing.  
CA: no deal  
AG: Fine! Tell you what, I'll give you one, and I mean ONE, kiss on the CHEEK at school Monday.  
CA: carcinoGeneticist  
AG: Thank you, Eridork!  
AG: See you later~

arachnidsGrip [AG] ceased pestering caligulasAquarium [CA]

Vriska threw her hands up in victory. Job well done, Serket. She quickly typed in the username in the search bar and impatiently waited for it pop up a moment later. "1 Result Found For carcinoGeneticist"

She clicked on the button and the username popped up in all its grey, boring glory. With childlike eagerness, Vriska clicked on his name.

arachnidsGrip [AG] began trolling carcinoGeneticist [CG]

AG: Guess who this is, Vantas :::;)  
CG: VRISKA SERKET  
AG: D8mm8t!!!!!!!!  
AG: H8w did y8u kn8w????????  
CG: I SAW YOUR NAME ON TEREZI'S HANDLES ONE TIME  
CG: YOU ACT AS IF YOU DIDN'T MAKE IT PAINFULLY OBVIOUS  
AG: Shut the fuck up! God, I'm not sure why I'm even talking to you now!  
CG: OH! THAT'S THE NEXT THING I WAS GOING TO ASK.  
CG: WHAT DO YOU WANT?  
AG: Why are you being so harsh?  
AG: Maybe I just wanted to talk to you <3  
CG: WHAT  
AG: I'm kidding, Vantas. Don't get your panties in a wad.  
AG: To 8e 8lunt, I was wondering if you and Kanaya Maryam were in cahoots?  
CG: WHAT  
CG: NO  
CG: MARYAM AND I ARE JUST FRIENDS  
CG: ACTUALLY WE AREN'T EVEN REALLY FRIENDS  
CG: MORE LIKE ACQUAINTANCES(1)  
AG: Hmm. Okay then.  
AG: I 8elieve you for now, 8ut this discussion is NOT over.  
CG: WAIT, VRISKA  
CG: BEFORE YOU SIGN OFF  
AG: Whaaaaaaaat?  
CG: DO YOU WANNA HANG OUT TOMORROW?  
AG: Karkat, if I didn't know any 8etter, I would think you are asking me out :::;)  
AG: Areeeeeeee you?  
CG: WHAT NO. WHAT EVER WOULD MAKE YOU THINK THAT I WOULD WANT TO GO OUT WITH YOU. THIS OUTING IS PURELY PLATONIC.  
AG: Geez. Okay. I get it.  
AG: Whatever you say. Yes, I'll go out *platonically* tomorrow.  
CG: OKAY GOOD  
CG: WANNA MEET AT NOON AT THAT COFFEE SHOP NEAR THE SCHOOL?  
AG: Fine by me.  
AG: See you tomorrow, Karkles~

arachnidsGrip [AG] ceased pestering carcinoGeneticist [CG]

Vriska grinned to herself. He wanted to go on a "purely platonic outing" with her. This would be fun.

...

Karkat beat on his head with his bare fists. He was the antonym of all things smooth. Not only did he sound like a major dork, he also said he would never go out with someone like Vriska.

Way to go, Vantas, way to go.

At least he got her to agree to go out with him. He quit damaging his skull and propped his chin up on his hand. He thought on his current situation for a moment. He figured he should find out a little more about Vriska before charging in unprepared to their platonic date. In order to do so, he did something he never thought he would.

He messaged Terezi.

carcinoGeneticist [CG] began pestering gallowsCalibrator [GC]

CG: TEREZI.  
GC: K4RK4T WHY 4R3 YOU TALK1NG TO M3  
CG: YOU USED TO BE FRIENDS WITH VRISKA, RIGHT?  
GC: K4RK4T  
GC: YOU KNOW TH3 4NSW3R TO TH4T  
GC: BUT IN C4S3 YOU FORGOT  
GC: Y3S SH3 4ND I US3D TO B3 FR13NDS  
CG: OKAY THEN  
CG: COULD YOU TELL ME SOMETHINGS SHE LIKES?  
GC: WHY  
GC: DO3S SOM3ON3 H4V3 4 CRUSH ON VR1SK4 S3RK3T >;]  
CG: TEREZI PYROPE, THAT IS NONE OF YOUR FUCKING BUSINESS  
CG: EVEN IF I WERE TO HAVE A CRUSH ON HER, WHICH I DON'T, I WOULDN'T TELL MY EX GIRLFRIEND WHO IS ALSO HER EX BEST FRIEND OR WHATEVER THE FUCK YOU TWO WERE  
GC: W3 W3R3 S1ST3RS TH4NK YOU V3RY MUCH  
GC: MHMM OK4Y WH4T3V3R YOU S4Y  
GC: BUT IM W4RN1NG YOU  
GC: SH3S CR4ZY  
CG: LIKE YOU AREN'T  
GC: NO SH3S L1T3R4LLY CR4ZY  
GC: SH3 W1LL NOT H3S1T4T3 TO HURT YOU FOR H3R OWN GAIN  
CG: TEREZI SHUT UP  
CG: IF I WANTED TO HEAR BAD THINGS ABOUT HER I COULD'VE GONE TO ANYONE ELSE  
CG: DO ME A FAVOR AND NOT TRY AND ACT LIKE SOME BULLSHIT JUDGE WHO DOES NOT HAVE THEIR FACTS STRIAGHT  
CG: JUST TELL ME SOME THINGS SHE LIKES OR USED TO LIKE  
GC: F1N3  
GC: SH3 L1K3S TO FL4RP, B4CKST4B, AND W1N  
GC: SH3 H4S 4 LOT OF M4G1C E1GHT B4LLS 4ND D1C3  
GC: SH3 3NJOYS PUTT1NG OTH3R P3OPL3 DOWN  
GC: TH4TS 4LL 1 H4V3 TO S4Y  
CG: YEAH YOU WERE SLIGHTLY HELPFUL  
CG: WHAT THE FUCK EVER  
CG: NEXT TIME WE TALK, TRY NOT TO ACT LIKE AN IGNORANT SHITSPONGE 

carcinoGeneticist [CG] ceased pestering gallowsCalibrator [GC]

That was a failure. Karkat dropped his head onto his desk once more. He'd just have to wing the not-date.

He needs all of the luck. All of it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (1) Karkat is just exaggerating as usual. As of right now in the story, Kanaya and him are just friends, but they'll most likely become good friends like they are in Homestuck by the end.


	4. Of Platonic Dates and Games

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A cute little "platonic" date.
> 
> That is all.

Karkat stood outside Hebrew's, the coffee shop he agreed to meet Vriska at. He arrived about twenty minutes too early due to being anxious. He leaned against the shop's wall, nervously tapping a beat on the bricks.

He didn't know why he was so nervous about this. He already said it was purely platonic. Just a simple friendly outing that would allow him to grow closer with Serket.

He also didn't know why he agreed to do this horrid task anyways. Breaking Vriska Serket's heart had never been a goal in life.

Okay, maybe he did know the reason. Respect and pride. He wanted to do something his friends would be proud of him for and so he would be more respected by him. And apparently hurting someone was the only was to receive these two things.

While he was lost in thought, Vriska had walked up. She leaned up next to his ear and whispered in a low, sultry voice, "Hey, Karkat~"

Her voice sent chills down his spine and his shoulders tensed in surprise. Okay, her voice sounded pretty attractive like that – which is something he would never admit aloud. He sighed, "Fuck, Vriska. You startled me."

"Did I now? I didn't mean to, I sweeeeeeear," she said with a innocent tone. She laughed afterwards and grabbed his hand. "Come on, I want some coffee."

She dragged him into Hebrew's and stood in line. Her hand was still intertwined with his and he momentarily considered breaking their connection; However, he decided against it since he did want to date her in the future and most certainly didn't want to give the wrong impression. She tore her hand away as she walked up to the counter to order her drink. 

After paying for their own coffee, the duo sat across from each other in a booth. Vriska took a sip of her drink then asked, "So, Karkat, why did you invite me out today?"

"I figured we should to get to know each other a bit better if we plan on eating lunch together from here on out. Go ahead and get past the awkwardness and move on," he replied. He silently thanked himself for thinking of responses like that in case she asked. She shrugged, "Fair enough."

She held out her hand and he looked at her like she was crazy. She saw his confusion and gave him a blank expression. "We haven't formally met. We just kind of knew each other. It would probably be easiest to get to know each other through an introduction."

It made sense to him. Karkat took her hand in his and shook it. She grinned, "I'm Vriska Serket: Roleplayer, horror movie enthusiast, and possibly the best girl you will ever meet."

"Karkat Vantas: Born leader, romantic expert, and ex-boyfriend of Terezi's," he replied, slightly unsure of what to say. As their connection broke, Vriska smirked. He slowly took a sip of his coffee, eyeing her suspiciously. She giggled, "You're such a dork."

He raised a brow and resisted the urge to snap at her for slightly insulting him. "And you know this how...?"

"For one thing, you called yourself an romance expert. To make it even better you said you were someone's ex-boyfriend afterwards," she replied, laughing loudly. Groaning, he pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. Okay, he did not think that response out. He retorted, "I wanted to say something you'd might be able to relate to. So I mentioned Terezi Pyrope," he threw her an accusing glare, "And it was not my fault that we broke up."

Vriska propped her chin on her hand, smirk still in its place. She said, "If you don't mind me asking, why did you two break up anyways?"

"What's it to you?"

"Fine then," she flipped some hair over her shoulder and crossed her arms, "let's make a deal. I'll tell you what happened with me and her if you tell me why you two broke up. Deal?"

Karkat then discovered that she was very good at getting what she wanted. He had to admit that he was curious why the two girls were no long friends; Vriska seemed just like the person Terezi would be around. Giving in to the deal, he answered, "I ended it because the feelings faded to me. It felt more like a friendship than a relationship. I don't exactly think it was the same thing happened to her though. The breakup was more in my favor than her's."

"Well, with Terezi and I, she ended it with me. You'll find out more laaaaaaaater, Karkles," she replied, grin growing just a bit. Karkat's eye twitched in irritation. "What? No. You said you'd tell me what happened if I told you my story. You aren't keeping up your end of the deal."

"Technically, I have told the story. For all you know, that could be all that happened," She giggled, "Besides, you didn't even agree to the deal. You just told me what went down with Terezi and yourself." Karkat groaned and beat his head against the table. She laughed even louder, "Woah now! Don't give yourself a concussion."

"You'd be the cause of it. Doesn't that make you feel special? That you could be the one to cause my divine head to be injured," he grumbled. She giggled a little more before all of a sudden turning serious. "Karkat."

"Uh, yeah."

"Don't fake your personality around me."

"What makes you think I'm 'faking my personality' or whatever the hell that means?"

"Karkat, I can read people like a book. Its just one of all the traits that I have. I can tell whenever you want to say something but decide not to. This whole friendship or whatever you want it to be isn't gonna work out if you don't be true to me or yourself."

Karkat was honestly amazed. She had figured out his poker face in a matter of minutes. He had to give Vriska some props; she was skilled in reading people. He retorted, "I hope you know that according to some people I'm pretty harsh when I speak my mind."

"I'm sure it's one of your best qualities," she said. She took the last sip of her coffee and grinned at him, "Well, did you have anymore plans for our _purely platonic_ outing? Or was this all you had planned?"

"Pssh. I assure you that I have more in store."

"Do you now?"

"Damn right," he said. He got up from his seat and grabbed Vriska's hand, pulling her out of her seat. He couldn't help but smile when he heard the quiet gasp she made when their hands came into contact. 

He dragged her out of the shop, throwing their cups away as they left. She asked where they were going and Karkat outright ignored her, which made her quite irritated. After her eighth complaint, he told her to can it and that she'll see when they get there. She huffed in annoyance, but let him guide her to their location. 

After a good ten minutes of walking, they stood in front of a building called "Time Out". She asked, "What's this place?"

"Have you seriously never been to an arcade?" He asked in disbelief. She looked away, her cheeks tinted pink. "Of course I have! I've been to PLENTY of arcades! Practically all of them! Hell, I spent soooooooo much of my time in arcades that I basically live in one!"

He ignored the fact that she was lying and was very flustered by leading her into the arcade. 

When flashing lights and techno music surrounded them, Vriska's eyes widened to the size of saucers. A smile formed on her features and she tightened her grip on Karkat's hand. He couldn't help but chuckle at her child-like eagerness. She pointed to the ski-ball game, "Kaaaaaaaarkat. I wanna play that game. I waaaaaaaanna plaaaaaaaay, Karkat!"

She started to tug him in the direction of the game, but he stopped her. He received the side eye from her and sighed, "We have to get tokens in order to play, Vriska."

"Oh. Right. I knew that," she replied sheepishly. They walked hand in hand to a token machine. Karkat finally tore his hand away from hers to pull out his wallet. Running his fingers along the bills, he asked, "How many tokens do you want?"

"You don't have to buy them for me you know. I can get them myself."

"I don't care. How many tokens do you want?"

"All of them."

"Twenty it is," he replied while pulling out a five. He put the money in the machine and it dropped twenty tokens into Vriska's outstretched hands. She grinned, grabbed onto his sleeve, and cheered, "Come on, Karkles! We've got to play that game!"

Karkat let her pull him to a skeeball machine. She inserted two tokens and the game soared to life, multicolored lights blinking up and down the sides. Eight balls dropped down the side and she took one in hand. She threw it up in the air a few times while he just watched her. She looked at the machine nervously and Karkat picked up on this. He asked, "Vriska, have you ever played skeeball before?"

"Pshh, yeah. I love skeeball. I'm so good I got a skeeball machine for christmas one year," she replied. The look she received from him let her know he could tell she was lying. She looked down embarrassedly at the ball in her hand; however, it soon was pulled from her vision and into his hand. Vriska looked up to see him smiling at her. He nudged her to the side so he could have more room and she absconded. He rolled the plastic ball up the ramp and it landed in the middle ring, earning the duo thirty points. He heard her grunt next to him. She snatched a ball from the side and he moved out of her way. She reared her arm back and slung the ball up the ramp. Surprisingly, it landed in the outer ring instead of the open space on the sides. They now had a score of fifty.

Vriska didn't seemed to pleased with her score. Karkat grabbed a ball and moved behind her. He put the ball in her hand and wrapped his hand around hers. He could barely see a blush coating her cheeks in the dim lighting and he was certain there was a matching one covering his own. He whispered, "It isn't really hard. Just barely pull your arm back," he moved their arms back enough to gain some momentum, come forward, and let go."

He moved their arms forward and they let go of the ball. The plastic orb rolled up the ramp and landed in the "fifty" ring. Vriska cheered, throwing her arms in the air. She grabbed another ball and rolled it. She quickly got the hang of it, and Karkat let her play on her own. Before long, she had run out of ball as and a fair amount of tickets came out of the machine. He retrieved the tickets before the spidergirl could drag him away to another game. 

They played several more basic games before blue eyes landed on the Dance Dance Revolution machine. She squealed, "Karkat, we have to play DDR~!"

"Vriska, I am not going to play DDR."

"What? Are you scared you are gonna get beaten by a giiiiiiiirl?"

He stomped towards the game with a happy Vriska right behind him. 

"Fuck, where do I step!?"

"Just follow the beat, Karkles."

"They are speaking fucking Japanese. I don't even know what the hell they are sayi–this is shit Sollux listens to–IS THERE EVEN A BEAT?!?"

Ten minutes later, Karkat was severely beaten by Vriska in Dance Dance Revolution. After his failure, they had spent all their tokens and exchanges their tickets in. 

They walked out of the arcade with two "fun sized" packages of M&Ms. Vriska muttered while opening her package, "You would think eighty tickets would get you more than some M&Ms."

"Arcades may be fun but they are total ripoffs."

They finished their candy as they aimlessly wandered. The sun was already setting due to daylight savings time, the sky splattered red, orange, and purple. Vriska stretched and looked around as they walked down the sidewalk. She stopped in her tracks and grabbed Karkat's sweater. All he heard was a quick "follow me" before he was being dragged away from the pathway.

She pulled him up a hill and into a little clearing. Letting go of his sweater, she dropped down onto the ground in front of an oak tree. She gestured for him to sit next to him and he did so. She smiled, "Let's just watch the sun set."

Karkat analyzed her features. He never realized how she was really pretty. Her skin was pale and contrasted nicely with her ebony locks. Her eyes were sharp, yet warm. Upon closer inspection, her noticed that one of her eyes was a bit lighter than the other and she had a few light scars on her temple next to it. Her lips were full and could easily form a pout he wouldn't be able to resist. She tilted her head to meet his gaze. With a playful wink she said, "See something you like?"

 

"Shut up," he grumbled, leaning back against the large tree behind them. Her laughed filled his ears and she propped her head up on his shoulder. Karkat tensed up from the sudden contact. He placed his head on top of her's as the sun finally disappeared beyond the horizon. 

They stayed like that for a while, laying against each other underneath the oak tree. Vriska yawned and pulled herself away from him, "I need to get home. Care to walk me there?"

"May as well," he replied. The duo got up and she led the way to her house.

They walked in silence until they reached her home. She gestured to the door, "This is my stop."

He nodded in response. She bashfully looked down, "Uh, Karkat. I actually had a good time today."

"Yeah. I did too."

"Let's do this again sometime," she smiled, her cheeks darkening. She leaned forward and pressed a gentle kiss to his cheek. He felt his cheeks heat up in response to her display of affection. She turned around and opened up her front door, "Good night."

"Night, Vriska."

As her front door closed, Karkat realized he was developing a crush on Vriska Serket.


	5. Of Suspicions and Jealousy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Karkat gets jealous

Monday morning, Vriska walked towards to the school a little bit earlier than usual. She had a strange feeling hanging over her when she woke up, but thanks to her insane amount of luck, she had avoided a run-in with her mother the day before and that morning. She didn't know why this odd vibe was upon her, but she didn't want it to ruin her day. She had enjoyed her weekend and refused to let anything ruin this streak of luck she was having.   
She had already told Kanaya that she had left earlier and just to go to school on her own time. The walk would be kind of dull without Miss FussyFangs, but it didn't bother Vriska. She had a lot on her mind. The main topic that clouded her thoughts wasn't necessarily unpleasant, but it did stroke some curiosity within her.

Why was Karkat Vantas hanging around her?

From what she knew, he wasn't a bad kid and definitely wasn't someone most would picture her being around. He seemed to have pretty innocent intentions, but she didn't believe that he just decided to eat with her one day because she looked lonely. His eyes didn't meet her own when he said that.   
He was lying.

Then again, it was quite possible that his reason for wanting to be around her is that he's crushing on her and it would be pretty awkward of he just came out and said that the first time they spoke. 

That brings up the other topic on her mind.

What were her own feelings towards Karkat?

Vriska really enjoyed their little date. Purely platonic or not, she would gladly go out and do it again. He acted much nicer than most of her suitors – Eridork – which scored him a point in her book. The boy was fun to tease since he got flustered quite easily, but he could reverse the situation on her as well. 

She wouldn't call the date platonic though.

She had multiple reasons for this. They held hands practically everywhere they went. It had pretty much been a natural reaction from the start, but it still made her cheeks flush when he grabbed her hand. Karkat paid for her tokens at the arcade. That one wasn't too big of a deal, but he wouldn't let her pay for her own tokens which makes it more of a signal than not. He taught her how to play skeeball. Okay, anyone would've done that, but it was the way he did it. Grabbing her hand, moving behind her, and whispering in her ear seemed a bit romantic for showing someone how to play an arcade game. They watched the sunset together. That one was her idea and she had no one to blame besides herself for that. She did notice him ogling her though. And finally, he walked her home. She was the one to kiss him on the cheek, however. Curse herself and her own damn mixed signals.

Vriska groaned and rubbed her temples. The idea of someone liking her didn't surprise her, but the fact that she may reciprocate those feelings was a foreign concept. She wasn't even sure if she did like Vantas; sometimes Vriska couldn't tell if she was just being a tease or not. 

Her thoughts came to a halt when the school appeared in her vision. The strange vibe that hung over her seemed to amplify as she approached the large building. She entered and walked to her locker, avoiding people as she went. She stopped in her tracks when her locker was in eyesight.

Terezi was leaning against it.

She then discovered why the weird feeling was upon her; she would have to talk to someone she didn't exactly want to. Vriska decided that Terezi was not going to ruin her day. It had been awhile since lady luck was on her side, and she had faith that the situation she was in would turn out just fine. If it didn't, then hopefully it ended in her favor. She waltzed up to her locker, "Terezi, you're kiiiiiiiinda in my way."

"I know. I wanted to talk to you."

"Can this wait till later? There's only like 20 minutes until classes start and have some things to do."

"This won't take much time out of your busy, busy schedule."

"Fiiiiiiiine then. Spill."

"Why are you hanging around Karkat?"

"That seems to be the million dollar question. What's it to ya anyways? I'm pretty sure you and him broke up awhile back."

Her fists clenched as she spoke, "This discussion really isn't about that. I just want to know what your intentions are because if you plan on hurting him, I swe-

"Pyrope, shut your whore mouth for one second. Karkat was the one to approach me, the one to offer to eat lunch with me, the one to ask to go somewhere platonically with me, and that's that. You should get your facts straight before accusing someone or else your judgment is biased," Vriska huffed, her voice getting louder as she spoke. 

The look on the blind girl's face was all Vriska needed to know she had proved her point; if Terezi believed her was a different story, however. She stood up straight, pushing herself off of the locker and announcing, "Whatever you say, Vriska. I'll see you around."

She walked off and as soon as she was out of the hallway, Vriska propped her head up on her locker. Talking to Terezi always took all the energy out of her. She sighed, "Y-yeah. I'll see you around too." 

Getting herself together, she leaned back and opened up her locker. After gathering her belongings for class, she walked down the hallway, mumbling one thing to herself, "Oh, and I'm sorry."

...

The bell for lunch rang and Vriska bolted out the classroom. She had something to attend to before her lunch with Karkat. She swung by her locker, throwing in her books before heading outside. She scanned the area trying to find the hipster and his dork friends. She spotted him at a table with...Karkat?

She ignored the other boy's presence and waltzed over to Eridan. He had this shit-eating grin spread across his face that she desperately wanted to knock off. He clearly knew why Vriska was approaching him and just couldn't contain his excitement. Before he could say a word, she yanked on his scarf in an attempt to pull him up, "Let's get this shit over with it. Now get up because I am not bending all the way over."

"Gladly," he replied while getting up from his seat. Karkat interrupted their slight feud, "What's going on?"

Eridan opened his mouth to speak but she quickly clamped a hand over it. She answered, "Nothing of importance."

Vriska pulled him down some more with his scarf so she could reach his face better. She whispered into his ear, bottom lip hitting his earlobe with each word, "Do not tell anyone what I got out of you for this. If you do, I will personally feed you to wolves. You are more than welcome to say it was part of a deal, but anything else will have you killed."

"Whatever you say princess," he responded, adjusting his scarf so he would no longer be choked. Vriska leaned away from his ear and muttered, "Now don't try anything funny."

She got on her tiptoes and pulled him closer with his collar because he was not being considerate of her height and wouldn't lean down. As she went to kiss his cheek, Eridan turned his head and their lips met.

Her eyes widened and he wrapped his arms around her, holding her against him. Vriska was too shocked to do anything as he kissed her. She wasn't sure how long it lasted, but when he finally released her, her eyes were still wide and she was positive she was blushing. Unconsciously, she brought her hand up and felt her lips. 

The look on Eridan's face was absolutely smug and at that moment she wanted nothing more to punch him in the face. So she did just that.

Vriska reared her arm back and slugged him square in the nose. He stumbled backwards, a hand reaching up to cover his nose that was starting to drip blood. She yelled, "What the fuck was th8t!? That was N8T part of the d8al!"

"You didn't seem to dislike it," he retorted. Her reply was a kick in the stomach. He fell back onto the ground, "Goddamnit, Vvris!"

Vriska was preparing to hit him again when her fist was grabbed by someone. She turned to swing at them to see it was no other than Miss Fussyfangs. She groaned, "Kanayaaaaaaaa! Could you please let go of me so I can get back to pulverising this douchebag?"

"I'm sorry, Vriska, but I cannot do that," she calmly replied, hand still holding the other girl's wrist. Vriska was fixing to get even more violent if her hand was not released. Through gritted teeth, she retorted, "This isn't even any of your 8usiness."

"Anything you do is my business."

"Would you quit meddling already?! Why do you have to meddle so much, meddley Miss Meddlesome Fussyfangs?!"

"Because you are dangerous."

"Oh, why don't you just can it!" She snapped. Kanaya giggled in response – she always found the phrase "can it" funny – and pulled Vriska towards her with her wrist. She enveloped the angry girl in a hug. Vriska said, voice slightly muffled from her face being pressed into Fussyfangs' shoulder, "Kanaya Maryam, if you do not release me this instant I will have your head mounted on my wall."

"No you won't," she replied. Not caring who was watching, she held Vriska tighter against her, a hand running through her black tresses. She smiled, "Do you wanna check out for the day with me? We can discuss this at my house."

"You know as well as I do that my dearest mother wouldn't approve of that."

"And you know as well as I do that your mother likes me and I can convince her it was for a good reason."

"Fiiiiiiiine. Lead the way, Fussyfangs," Vriska said as she was released from the other girl's grip. She turned to face Eridan, who was now seated at the table treating his bloody nose. She yelled, "Eridork, I am not through with you yet! Next time no one is around to stop me, you better watch out."

"Ampora, I will be speaking with you later," Kanaya said sternly. She then walked towards the office, Vriska following behind. 

...

What the fuck did Karkat just witness? He was simply talking to Sollux about a new game this was soon to be released and the next thing he knew, Vriska was being kissed by Eridan. 

Vriska's face after being kissed by the jerk was possibly one of the cutest things he has ever seen. Her eyes were wide, her glasses amplifying them. Her cheeks were dusted pink which made her eyes look even bluer. Her lips were slightly agape as she felt them with her her fingertips.

The only problem was that he wasn't the one to cause that facial expression.

Eridan got what was coming for him, though. Vriska did not hesitate to punch him in the face for his actions. Then Kanaya showed up.

Vriska must have been too busy beating the shit out of Eridan to notice Kanaya walk up. Her face displayed a glint of shock when facing the other girl before showing irritation. Surprisingly, Maryam was able to calm Vriska for the most part. It was the hug that confused him.

Even though Vriska didn't seem eager to partake in the hug, her friend seemed quite loving. She held her in a tight embrace and as Kanaya's hand weaved through her locks, you could visibly see Serket go limp in her arms. 

Karkat wanted to punch himself in the face when he realized that what was going on with his feelings.

He was jealous of Kanaya Maryam.

...

After school, Karkat layed on his bed trying to figure out own feelings. He felt stupid for being jealous of Vriska's friendship with Maryam. He had established within himself that he wanted to be more than friends with her, so why was this bothering him so badly?

Groaning, he got up from his bed and sat down at his computer. He opened up Pesterchum to message the girl who invaded his thoughts.

carcinoGeneticist [CG] began pestering arachnidsGrip [AG]

CG: HEY VRISKA   
AG: Yes, Karkat?  
CG: WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED AT LUNCH TODAY  
AG: Oh, sh8t. I forgot y8u were out ther8.  
AG: Do I reeeeeeeeally h8ve to tell you?  
CG: YOU DON'T HAVE TO  
CG: BUT I WOULD PREFER IT IF YOU DID  
AG: Ugh fine. I m8de a deal with Eridork and my p8rt of the deal was to g8ve him a kiss on the ch8ek.  
AG: The fucking d8ck turned his he8d and k8sses me on the l8ps  
AG: I proceeded to 8eat the shit out of him until Miss Fussyfangs dragged me away.  
AG: There's your story.  
CG: OKAY THEN  
CG: DID YOU REALLY THINK THAT ERIDAN WOULDN'T PULL ANYTHING?  
AG: I honestly didn't think he was bold enough to try anything.  
AG: Wow. I must be an idiot for thinking that.  
CG: VRISKA SHUT UP  
CG: YOU ARE NOT AN IDIOT  
CG: YOU ARE JUST CONFIDENT  
AG: Thanks, Karkat.  
AG: That actually made me feel a 8it 8etter.  
CG: JUST SPEAKING THE TRUTH  
AG: I'll talk to you l8r. Kanaya is fixing to take me 8ack home.  
AG: Thanks again  
AG: <3

arachnidsGrip [AG] ceased pestering carcinoGeneticist [CG]

Karkat smiled at the little cerulean heart on the screen. Well, at least he's getting better at this whole smooth thing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I swear Eridan and Terezi will get better by the end don't hate them yet.


	6. Of Teasing and Ideas

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kanaya talks to Karkat and teasing occurs

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'M SORRY I POSTED THIS SO LATE! Midterms were kicking my ass last week and I didn't get to post last Monday like I would've liked. But now I'm done with school for almost a month and I plan on posting twice this week to make up for last week.
> 
> Also, I apologize for the length of this chapter (its only like 1,500 words), but it turned out better than I planned. The next chapter will tie up more of the loose ends left with this one.

Karkat waited for Vriska at the school's entrance the next day. He didn't tell her he was going to be there, but thought it would be a nice surprise.

When Vriska came into eyesight, he couldn't help but smile. God, she was just so pretty. He just couldn't get over it. Her long dark hair flowed behind her as she walked towards the school. Her cerulean lips were curled into their usual smirk as she listened to whatever Kanaya told her. Bright blue eyes were behind her wire rimmed glasses, analyzing everything around her. 

He watched as her smirk turned into a sweet little smile when she saw him. She quickly turned her head to the side, not even facing Kanaya. Was she trying to hide her excitement? How adorable.

The two girls walked up to him. Vriska tossed some of her hair over her shoulder, "Why am I not surprised you are waiting for me, Karkaaaaaaaat? You just can't stay away from me."

"You are excited to see me and you know it," he replied, rolling his eyes. Before Vriska could retort, her dear friend spoke up, "I will leave you two alone now. I'll talk to you later, Vriska."

"Later, Fussyfangs," Vriska said with a small wave as Kanaya walked into the school. She turned back to him, "So, Karkat," she poked him square in the chest, "why exactly are you waiting for me here?"

"I just thought I'd surprise you since you had a shit day yesterday," he nonchalantly answered and gave a small shrug. She scoffed and grabbed him by the sleeve of his jacket, "Suuuuuuuure. Come with me to my locker now."

He allowed her to drag him to the school's doors before pulling the fabric out of her grip. She gave him a small pout when he broke their connection, but quickly returned her focus to going to her locker. When they reached the metal contraption, Vriska opened it up and pulled out a book. She held it out to him, "Hold this for me."

Karkat complied and held her textbook for her. She then dropped two more binders into his hands and shut her locker. When she didn't take her books back, he asked, "Uh, Vriska? Aren't you gonna take them back?"

"No~"

"Why?"

"Because you are gonna carry them to class for me, silly. Didn't you know that?"

"Well, I wasn't informed."

"Now you are~" She replied with a sickly sweet smile. Karkat groaned audibly and proceeded to complain, which she responded to with laughter. 

It wasn't long until the bell rang signaling the start of first period. Vriska led the way to her first period class with pep in her step. She sat down at her desk and looked up at him. Karkat went to hand her belongings to her, and she shook her finger. "Ah ah ah. Set them down on my desk."

Groaning, he dropped them on the surface. She grinned, "Thank you, Karkles," she grabbed the neck of his hoodie, "here is your reward~"

She kissed him on the cheek, the corner of her lips barely pressing against the corner of his own. After a moment, she pushed him away and chided, "Now get to class."

"Whatever. Bye, Vriska." 

She was such a tease.

...

Karkat waited for Vriska on the school's rooftop. He watched the side of the roof waiting for her to appear. A girl climbed up onto the roof, but it was not Vriska. It was Kanaya Maryam. Karkat raised a brow in confusion, "Maryam? What are you doing up here?"

"Vriska sent me. She wanted me to tell you she would be a bit late getting here. She had to discuss one of her grades with a teacher," she replied while walking towards him. She looked him up and down. She bit her lip as if preventing herself from saying something rude (most likely about his type of dress), which didn't go unnoticed by Karkat. He grumbled, "Oh okay. Thanks."

"While we are talking about Vriska, would you care to tell me what your intentions are with her?" Kanaya asked then crossed her arms. Karkat narrowed his eyes, "Why do you want to know?"

"I am just trying to be a good friend to her and make sure you have good intentions, to prevent any future problems."

"I don't really have any intentions. I just want to be her friend," he lied. He could just tell Vriska's best friend that the only reason he was hanging around her was to break her heart (and that he was actually crushing on her, but no one needed to know that). Kanaya's jade green eyes scanned his facial expression and he had a strong feeling that she had caught his lie. However, she did not make it known if she did, "Very well then. I will be keeping an eye on you though, Vantas."

A very loud groan came from behind Kanaya and the duo looked behind her to see Vriska pulling herself onto the roof. She briskly walked to them with a crumpled up paper in her hand. She complained, "I am pissed off. I am almost as pissed off as my mother is going to be when I get home."

"What's wrong?" Kanaya and Karkat said at the same time, which resulted with the the two of them glaring at each other momentarily.

Vriska either didn't notice the slight tension or she ignored it as she sat down next to Karkat. She announced, "Stupid English teacher wouldn't let me retake the stupid fucking test. I don't see why he won't let me! He said my grade was juuuuuuuust fine, but he doesn't know that in the eyes of Mrs. Arachne Serket it is NOT acceptable. An 80 is anything but acceptable. It will never be acceptable. Someone may as well go ahead and prepare the guillotine because it will be need in a few hours. With my luck, my mother already knows my grade. Fuck this. Fuck everything. Ugh." 

She let out a long sigh before falling back onto the shingles. Karkat carefully pulled the paper from Vriska's hand. Right next to her neatly written name was an 82. He looked over at her in disbelief, "Your mother gets upset over you getting a B?"

"Oh, you don't even know. She gets mad over anything below an 95. She's just angry with 90s to 94s, but she gets _livid_ over Bs. I don't know how she reacts to anything below that because I've never gotten anything under that. If she ever had a child that made anything below an 80, they don't exist anymore."

"Vriska, I need to go speak to some people, but if you need to talk later just call me. I'm sorry to depart right now," Kamya interjected, rubbing the back of her neck sheepishly. Vriska waved her hand dismissing her, "Its fine, Kanaya. I'll pester you later if I'm still alive."

"Don't talk like that. I'll see you around," she replied walking to the edge of the roof to exit.

Karkat turned back to Vriska. He felt bad for her; he never really had to deal with his parents flipping out over his grades. They were happy with anything above a 75. He grabbed her wrists, pulling her up and causing her to squeak in surprise. He tugged her into a hug and Vriska muttered, "Ka-Karkat? What are you doing?"

He hugged her a bit tighter, "I can't personally relate to your situation, but everything will be okay."

He felt her tension slowly dissipate and she hugged him back. She snickered "Thanks, Romeo. Don't you have a way with words."

"Shut up, Vriska. You are killing the moment here."

The hug broke.

"Oh, so now we are having a moment, eh?" She asked with an eyebrow wiggle. He smirked, she had done most of the teasing and it was his turn to have a little fun. He leaned forward, causing her to lean back a bit before catching herself. Their faces were only a few inches apart and he said in a husky voice, "We can make it a moment. Its not that hard."

A smirk formed on his features as he noticed the pink tint start to appear on her cheeks. She smiled back and whispered, "Well, do it then."

She had just challenged him. She wanted him to make he first move. 

He could do that.

But not now.

Oh, no. He was gonna tease her just as much as she was teasing him.

This had become war.


	7. Of Nervousness and Dates

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Love is the air and spidermom makes her grand appearance

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just as a general note, Kanaya's opinions towards Karkat will change in the future. She's just very suspicious of him
> 
> Also, sorry for the long wait but I hope this 5k word chapter makes up for it

It had been two days since the challenge had been created and Vriska and Karkat had started teasing each other constantly. After the dare had been placed, the bell rang so Karkat couldn't initiate anything. But after that, the teasing began.

Karkat would barely let his hand intertwine in hers in the hallway before snaking it away, or his lips would graze her forehead as a gentle goodbye before they separated. Vriska, who was more adventurous with this, would give him a hug, pressing her chest into him and "accidentally" rubbing her thigh against his groin. She would kiss him on the cheek with their lips hardly touching. She would sit in his lap during lunch and he would rest his hands on her hips. Things were slowly getting more intense and neither of them would be able to handle it for long.

So now it was Thursday and lunch had just started. Vriska climbed up onto the roof and saw Karkat sitting there. She smiled as approached him, taking her seat in his lap. He pulled some of her hair aside and whispered into her ear, "Hey, Vriska."

His breath on her neck sent chills down her spine, which he seemed to notice since he laughed under his breath. Man, she really needed to reign herself in a bit better. She rotated in his lap to where she was practically straddling him. Now that they were facing, she replied, "Yes?"

"Would you like to go on an entirely romantic date with me?"

Now that took her off guard. 

She was certain her face was priceless for a split second. She felt heat rise to her cheeks and she couldn't seem to form words to save her life so her mouth was slightly parted. Karkat smirked at her, and she recognized the smile because it was the exact one she wore most of the time. Oh, so he thought this was funny...

She recollected her thoughts at an award worthy speed and tossed some hair behind her shoulder. She answered, "Sure. When and where?"

"I'll pick you up at five thirty tomorrow at your house," he responded instantly. He seemed to have all the irons in the fire – that was her job. She placed her hands on his shoulders, trailing her fingertips down his arms to his hands which were placed on her thighs. She asked, "Now where will we be going?"

"Just dress nice," Karkat nonchalantly answered, moving his hands up to her hips. She crossed her arms over her chest and huffed, "Well what do you mean by 'nice'? Some people think what I'm wearing is nice. Others think lingerie is nice. What do you consider to be 'nice'?"

"Dammit Vriska. You know what I mean by nice. You said nice so many times in that question I think it lost its value as word. And I swear to god if you show up in lingerie I'm going home."

"Oh really now? Are you sure you wouldn't come to my room with me?" She smirked, leaning in closer to where there faces were only a few inches apart. Karkat's cheeks grew a pinkish color while her smirk grew wider. He retorted, "Okay, who the hell fucks on the first date? Who plans to make the first date just pure fuckery? Come o–"

"Oh, shut your loud mouth already. I was kidding. I'll dress formally, assuming that's what you mean by nice," Vriska interrupted, moving her hands off of him and got up. She happened to notice a certain something stir in his jeans, but decided against bringing it up at that moment; that could be used as a tease or even blackmail in the future. The bell rang dismissing lunch, and they both hopped off the roof in silence.

...

It was the next day at three o'clock. School had just let out and Vriska was running to her house. Two and a half hours. She had two and a half hours to get ready for a date. That seemed like enough time but it takes girls awhile to get ready. Especially ones who have no clue what to wear.

She burst open her house door and ran to her room. Swinging open her closet, she examined everything she had to choose from. After a good ten minute inspection, she came to the conclusion that she had nothing to wear. She was going on a date with a guy she actually had reciprocated feelings for and she had nothing to wear. Attempting to remain calm, Vriska took a deep breath. Okay, the large intake of oxygen did absolutely nothing and she was still flipping the fuck out. Her phone went off in the middle of her panicking, breaking her train of thought. She pulled the device out of her pocket and saw that she just had a notification telling her to update an app. She looked at her lock screen for a moment before an idea hit her; she could call Kanaya for help. She quickly unlocked her phone and called her friend. After three rings, not that Vriska was counting or anything, she answered, "Hello?"

"Kanaya!"

"Yes, Vriska?"

"Okay, so I have a date in like two hours and have no idea what to wear or do and I'm definitely not freaking out right now and I am absolutely cluelesss on what the hell I should do and I'm not panicking, you are panicking–"

 

"Vriska, you need to calm down. I can hardly understand what you are saying."

"Right. Okay. I'm calming down."

"Now, from what I heard, you have a date tonight and need help getting ready. Am I right?"

"Yeah."

"Okay then. I'll be there soon."

"Oh my god, Kanaya Maryam, you are my savior."

"I'm just doing my job. See you soon."

She ended the call and fell back on her bed. Everything was going to be fine once Kanaya arrived. But until Kanaya arrived, she was going to freak the fuck out.

What if Karkat didn't actually have feelings for her and this was just some huge prank or something?

Okay, that wasn't believable. Karkat saw love as the complex thing that it was, not as something you just throw around. Its not like they _loved_ each other yet anyways. Her feelings for him could even be labeled as infatuation for him right now. No. No they couldn't. She was in too deep for it to be infatuation. However, she didn't know if his was or not. And that was the scariest thing. 

A knock on the door shattered her terrifying thoughts. She zoomed down the stairs and opened the door without checking who it was. 

Kanaya stood before her with a look that was filled with determination. Vriska announced, "You got here really quick."

"I wasn't really speeding if no one saw me."

"That doesn't sound like something the Kanaya I know would say."

"I will always speed to a fashion emergency. Care to let me in?"

"That, however, does," Vriska replied while opening the door wider for her friend to enter. Fussyfangs walked in and headed towards the other girl's room. Vriska trailed behind her and watched as she opened up the closet and scanned her clothing. "You don't have very many dresses, do you?"

"Not really. I only ever get one whenever we have a family event that I absolutely have to attend."

"Doesn't Aranea have a lot of dresses?"

"Probably so. She's not home right now."

"Then you can just wear one of her's," Maryam replied and walked into Aranea's room with the other Serket following close behind. She opened up the closet and immediately pulled out a dress. She smiled, "This one will work perfectly."

Shee ushered Vriska into the Serket's bathroom and gently pushed her down onto the toilet seat. Kanaya pulled her phone out and checked the time. She announced, "We have about an hour and thirty minutes. Do you think we can get you ready in time?"

"Of course we can. With your fashion expertise and my luck, we've got this shit."

"Then lets get to it. We'll start with your makeup," Maraym replied while getting Vriska's makeup out of the cabinet.

Fifteen minutes later, they were finished with her makeup. Next up was her hair.

"Fuck! Fussyfangs, you are pulling my ha – shit – my hair really hard."

"My apologies. I forgot how thick your hair is."

"Would you quit squirming? I don't want to burn your ear."

"You already did once."

"Sorry again."

Forty minutes later, they had managed to tame Vriska's hair. Kanaya left the bathroom momentarily for Vriska to change into the dress. After a moment, she walked out clothed. Kanaya had already picked out a pair of heels and was going through all of the other girl's jewelry.

Vriska sat down on her bed and slipped on the heels, laughing to herself. With these heels on she would be nearly as tall as Karkat(1). He wasn't all that tall to begin with, probably around six foot. Then again, most guys at their school were monsters of six foot five. (Her prime example being Gamzee Makara.)

Kanaya handed her some earrings and she slipped them in. She then gestured for Vriska to turn around, and she obliged, holding up her hair. The jade eyed teen latched a necklace around her friend's neck and smiled, "Now we are done."

Vriska checked the time on her phone. It was five fifteen. Karkat would be here any minute. She declared, "Kanaya, I cannot thank you enough. I would proba– I mean, I had this shit from the start. I knew what I was gonna wear and everything else from the moment I was asked out. I just asked for your help so you could have practice for the future."

"Sure you did. I will go ahead and take my leave in a moment, but I have one question."

"Shoot."

"Who are you going out with?"

"Why do yoooooooou wanna know?"

"Just curiosity."

"Karkat Vantas."

The way Kanaya's nose scrunched up momentarily before going back to her usual expression did not go unnoticed by Vriska; however, she chose not to say anything. Her friend said her goodbyes, they hugged, and she left.

Vriska checked the time again. Five twenty. She looked herself over one more time. She wore a black dress that ended a little bit above her knees. It was somewhat low cut, a small slit gave those who dared to look a generous view of cleavage. The sleeves were quarter length. This dress was definitely was one Kanaya's elder sister, Porrim, gave Aranea. Her feet were clad in red heels that made her about four inches taller. She also adorned red earrings and necklace. Kanaya had, very roughly, straightened her hair. She also wiped off all her blue makeup and replaced it with colors that matched her outfit better; Red lipstick and black eye liner. It was so strange seeing herself not in blue makeup, her hair not wavy, and heels on her feet instead if her converse.

She heard the front door open up. Had Karkat just let himself in? Vriska exited her room and walked down the stairs with her phone in hand. Her mother sat on the couch. Shit.

When Karkat said he would pick her up at five thirty, she didn't think about her mother being home when he arrived. Now he was going to meet her mother. Lovely.

She turned around on the couch to face her daughter and her eyes widened when she saw how she was dressed. She asked, "Vriska, what are you dressed up for?"

"I have a date tonight," Vriska replied, awkwardly shifting her weight onto her other foot. She watched as her mom raised an eyebrow and slowly got off the couch, "Ooooooookay. Did you _ask_ me if you could go on this date?"

"No ma'am," she answered. Arachne Serket slowly walked closer to her daughter. Vriska nearly cringed with each clack of her heels against the hardwood floor. She stood in front of her child, "Well, considering your grade on your last English test, I'm not sure if I should let you go."

Now that pissed Vriska off. She understood she made an unsatisfactory grade and she understood that it was unacceptable, but to not let her go on a date she was already prepared for and when her suitor was on his way; that was just cold. Before Vriska could argue back, the doorbell rang.

Karkat was here. 

Her mother smiled, "I guess I'm going to meet this boy of yours." 

She turned around and briskly walked to the door. Vriska still stood at the bottom of the staircase and watched as her mother opened up the door. There stood Karkat Vantas. Arachne said in an oddly cheery voice, "How may I help you today?"

"Uh, is Vriska Serket home?"

"Yes, she is. Who are you and why do you need her?"

"I'm Karkat Vantas and I am her date for tonight."

"Oh really now? I'm Arachne Serket, her mother. Care to come in for a moment?" She said while sidestepping to give him room to enter. Karkat walked in cautiously. He looked over at Vriska and she couldn't help but giggle when his ruddy brown eyes widened as he took in her appearance. He was such a dork. She walked up to him, smile on her face, "You look nice, Karkles."

He did look nice, but it was odd seeing him dressed up instead of in his usual hoodie and jeans. She was kind of glad he had them dress up for their first not-platonic date; his impression on her mom would be better since he was dressed formally. He replied, "Thank you. You look–" he paused for a moment, "–you look beautiful."

"Thank you," she said, face flushing. Arachne cleared her throat and announced, "Karkat, would you please sit down. I have a few questions I would like to ask you."

"Yes ma'am," he answered and sat down on one of their suede couches. Vriska sat down next to him and gave him the best reassuring smile she could manage; she wasn't very good at comforting people. Arachne sat on the couch across from them and examined them for a moment. She asked, "Who are your parents?"

"My father is Kristopher Vantas and he works as a millwright so he isn't home very often. My birth mother passed away when I was young, but he remarried Jordan Smith. She is unemployed and travels with my dad when she can," Karkat answered. Her mom seemed to take in his words, carefully analyzing each syllable. She replied, "I see. Does anyone else live with you?"

"My brother, Kankri, is home fairly often. He's in seminary school, but still manages to stay at the house pretty often."

"How old is Kankri?"

"He is 20."

"Okay. I was curious," she paused, folding her hands together, "now onto the more important questions. What are your intentions with Vriska?"

He glanced over at Vriska, who looked back over at him. She was pretty curious herself what his intentions were. He said, "Well, Mrs.Serket, I would like to be more than friends, but I don't want to rush into anything."

Her gaze hardened slightly as he spoke. She sighed, "Vriska, you can go out tonight. But if you have another bad grade you will no longer be able to. What time are you going to have her back, Karkat?"

"Does nine sound good?"

"I guess. Have a good night you too," Arachne declared. Vriska and Karkat stood up and said their goodbyes to the eldest Serket. Once they were out of the house, Vriska let out a breath she didn't know she was holding in. Karkat did the same. They both laughed for a second before walking over to his car, and Karkat opened her car door for her. Vriska waited until he got into the car before trying to start a conversation. Once he was in, she asked, "How come you didn't drive us aroud on our last little date?"

"Correction: Platonic outing. I didn't have gas money at the time," he responded, putting the key in the ignition and started the car up. He backed out of the driveway. He said, "You know, she's not as awful as you make her out to be. It was tiring to speak that formal, but I expected her to be more angry and murderous than just...scary."

"Not as awful as I made her out to be? Ha! You haven't even seen her at her worse. She was only slightly ticked off before you showed up. I'm surprised she didn't send me upstairs and you home. If she did, I would've just snuck out, but still," Vriska complained, "She seems to like you so far, but that can change."

"I hope I never see her mad," he grumbled as he drove down the road. To end the conversation, Vriska cut on the radio. She shifted through the stations before she found one that wasn't scratchy and was just playing an ad. She asked, "Hey, Karkat?"

"What?"

"Where are we going?"

"It's a surprise."

"Bluuuuuuuuh," she groaned. She hated not knowing things like that. The ad went off of the radio and it played a tune that Vriska recognized immediately. She turned up the volume before facing Karkat with a devilish grin. She sang in sync with the singer, "Oh! Well imagine as I'm facing the pews in a church corridor and I can't help but to hear, no I can't help but to hear an exchanging of words."

She watched as the corner of his lips started to twitch into a smile as he continue to drive. Vriska continued her radio duet with Brendon Urie, "'What a beautiful wedding! What a beautiful wedding!' says a bridesmaid to a waiter. Yes but what a shame, what a shame the groom's bride is a whore."

 

She started to laugh and Karkat sang the next line for her. She joined in halfway through the chorus and they sang the rest of the song together. When the last note silenced, they were both out of breath and Vriska was having a laughing fit. Karkat turned the radio down and said, "I had no idea you could sing."

She simply shrugged, her chest still heaving from laughter. After regaining her composure, she answered, "I never knew I could either. I usually only sing when I'm home alone."

Karkat pulled into a restaurant's parking lot. He parked and cut his car off. He smiled, "Well, we are here."

"I never would of guessed. I just thought you felt like pulling over into a random parking lot," she joked, opening the passenger side door and getting out of the car. She walked around to his side of the car and he held out his hand. She placed her hand in his with a smirk on her face. They walked hand in hand into the Italian restaurant Karkat had picked out. They were seated and a water came by and asked them what they would like to drink. They answered and the waiter winked at Vriska. When he was out of earshot, she laughed, "Karkat, that guy winked at me."

"Too bad you are on a date with me," he replied, his tone a bit deeper than usual. Was he angry? One hand held up his menu while the other was balled into a fist on the table. His eyebrows were furrowed and she couldn't see his mouth because he was holding the menu up so high. His eyes darted away from the menu for a moment. She casually turned her head to see what he looked at that. The door to the kitchen. He was jealous. He was jealous of the guy who winked at her. She propped her chin up on the palm of her hand, "Kaaaaaaaarkat, are you jealous of our waiter?"

"I'm not jealous of the waiter," he replied, lowering his voice as he spoke, "I'm just mad that you noticed him wink at you and got excited about it."

"You are jealous! Oh my god, you are jealous of some nobody who closed one of eyes when he looked at me," she said in disbelief. Karkat opened his mouth, probably to go off on some bullshit rant about how she needs to shut up, but she cut him off, "Listen here, you have no reason to get upset over some looooooooser. I am on a date with you. Not him. You. Now pay more attention to the pretty girl across from you instead of brooding."

She reached across the table, closed her hand around his fist, and smiled at him. He laughed and she picked up her menu. The waiter came by not long after and gave them their drinks and took their menus and orders.

They teased each other and made jokes until their food arrived. They ate mostly in companionable silence. Karkat paid for their dinner since Vriska left her wallet at home and he wanted to anyways. They got back into his car and Vriska said, "It is seven thirty. What else do you have planned?"

"You'll see."

"Ugh. There you go with your surprises again," she huffed, leaning back in her seat to pout. Vriska heard him chuckle so she turned the radio up so she wouldn't have to hear his dumb (which totally wasn't actually attractive) laughter. She turned the radio on again and scanned for a good station. After a few minutes of not finding anything, she let out a loud, exaggerated groan, "Uuuuuuuugggggggghhhhhhhh, there isn't anything on. Karkat, amuse me.”

"What do you expect me to do? Do you want me to juggle while still driving? Use my hands on the pedals and my feet to steer? Maybe yo-" 

"Okay, nevermind. Your rants are amusing enough," she giggled. She heard him take a deep breath and she said, "Don't even start another one."

Despite her demand, he started another one.

"You are so impatient, Serket. You can't entertain yourself long enough for me to drive to our next destination, which we are almost at. I just have to take a few more turns, ones that'll probably bother you, and then we will be there. Can you handle that? Can you handle it, Serket?"

She grinned. He was hateflirting with her. People generally only use other's last names when they are irritated or sometimes being playful. Playfully irritated. If hateflirting was an actual thing or not, she didn't care. It was to her and that was all that mattered. Vriska leaned towards him, "You know you love every little thing I do. Face it, you can't enough of me."

He started to speak but she cut him off by turning the radio up. He glared at her for a moment before looking back at the road, causing her to laugh. Karkat turned into a parking lot so she looked over at the entrance's sign. It read "Central Park".

"You are taking me to a park at seven forty five pm?" Vriska giggled. She saw his eyes roll as he climbed out of his car. She got out on her own side and watched as he grabbed something out of the backseat. While shutting the backseat door, he announced, "You do known I would've opened the door for you if you would've waited, right?"

"Like you said earlier, I'm impatient," she replied, a slightly playful tone in her voice. She looked at what he had gotten out of the backseat of the car: a blanket. We're they going to stargaze? How cute.

Karkat had parked on a more secluded side of the park, but if you looked in the distance you could see some other people there. Vriska didn't mind people, but she was glad he had them stay further away from others. 

He laid down the blanket and sat down on the fabric. He extended his hand out to her and she grabbed it. He helped her down onto the blanket and she slipped off her heels before laying down. He plopped down next to her and they stared into the sky.

They sat in silence at first. The fall air was relatively warm, really just the right temperature. It was quiet out; no insects or animals made any noise. The people nearby couldn't be heard besides the occasional burst of laughter. It was Karkat who broke the silence first, "Isn't it crazy how one little choice you make can affect your entire future?"

"Yeah. Isn't that called the butterfly effect? Something about how a butterfly can cause a hurricane or something?"

"I'm pretty sure that's what its called. If you think about it, if we did one thing different in our lives, we may not even talking about this right now."

"You could be sitting with someone else entirely."

"I don't think I would like that," he replied. She heard him shift and then warmth enclosed around her fist. She turned her hand around so their fingers could interlock. She smiled, "Yeah, I don't think I would like that either."

Vriska broke their connection to shift closer to him. She rested her head on his chest and their other hand held each other. She felt her cheeks warm up from this display of affection. She couldn't help but feel so comfortable with him. He wrapped an arm around her waist and held her closer.

They layed there wrapped in each other's embrace for what seemed like an eternity, staring into the starry depths above. 

Karkat shifted, causing Vriska to slid off his chest slightly, making her pout. He pulled his phone out of his back pocket and checked the time. It was eight fifteen. He asked, "You have to be home in forty five minutes. Anything else you want to do before I drive you home?"

"I want," she paused to think for a moment, "I want to dance."

"You do realize we are at a park and you have like forty minutes til you have to go home."

"I know," she said, leaning up, "but I never said I wanted to dance at a nightclub or anything."

She hopped to her feet, grabbed her shoes and walked to his car. Karkat followed her example and unlocked his vehicle. She demanded he pass her his keys and he did so. Vriska set her heels on the seat and started up the car. She turned the radio on and cranked up the radio. An advertisement was going off. The radio show host announced that a Taylor Swift song would be playing next. 

Vriska made a 'come hither' motion with her index finger and Karkat obliged. He held out his hand and asked, "May I have this dance?"

"You may," she replied with a laugh. He placed his hands on her waist and she placed hers on his shoulders. As Taylor began to sing, the duo slowly danced in a circle. 

_He said let's get out of this town  
Drive out of the city, away from the crowd  
I thought heaven can't help me now  
Nothing lasts forever but this is gonna take me down_

"You know, this song doesn't really suit the moment," he commented. She pinched his shoulder lightly, "Don't ruin the moment. I just wanna dance, m'kay"

_Say you'll remember me,  
Standing in a nice dress  
Staring at the sunset, babe  
Red lips and rosy cheeks  
Say you'll see me again  
Even if its just in your wildest dreams_

Vriska placed her head against his chest as they danced. He lightly rubbed her lower back in circles and she melted into his touch.

_No one has to know what we do  
His hands are in my hair  
His clothes are in my room  
His voice is a familiar sound  
Nothing lasts forever but this is getting good now _

She moved her arms from his shoulders to his back. They had stopped dancing now; they held each other in a soothing embrace for the remainder of the song. When Swift sang the last note, Vriska pushed herself away from him. She gave him a dreamy smile, "I guess I should be getting home now, huh?"

"Y-yeah, I guess," he stammered, faint pink grazing his tanned cheeks. Karkat leaned a bit and gently pressed a kiss to her forehead. She felt her cheeks flush and he commented, "This has been fun, Vriska."

She nodded in agreement and climbed into his car. He got in on his own side backed out of the parking lot. They rode to her house in silence, not even the radio was on. It was clear to them that both didn't want this night to end, but it wasn't like they could control time. Assuming things went as well as this night had, there would be more dates in the future.

When they pulled up to the Serket's home. Karkat rushed out of his seat to open her cardoor. He stuck his tongue out at her as she slide out of her seat. He walked her to her door and declared, "I had really good time tonight."

"Yeah, I did too."

"You wanna do this again sometime?"

"Of course," she replied. She placed a kiss on his on his cheek, leaving behind are imprint. Both their cheeks flushed and Vriska smiled, "Goodnight, Karkat."

"Goodnight, Vriska."

And Vriska went inside, face flushed and heart hammering in her chest. 

She was head over heels for Karkat Vantas, and for once in her life she could not find anything wrong with what she was feeling.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (1) I pretty much have this headcanon where Karkat was really shirt when they were all 13-16 (which is around their age in Homestuck) but then he had a huge growth spurt and ended up being close to all the other guys height
> 
> I only included Taylor Swift cause that song has been stuck in my head and I had no idea on what else they could dance to lol


	8. Of Parties and Shenanigans

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gamzee throws a party and shenanigans ensue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so so so so so sorry for the long wait. I hope I can make it up to all of you with this long chapter. 
> 
> Also, it would be incredibly helpful if you all were to pick one of the following characters (reason will be explained much later on in story).   
> John Egbert, Dave Strider, or Cronus Ampora.
> 
> Very random ones. I know. But it will affect the story greatly.

caligulasAquarium [CA] began pestering carcinoGeneticist [CG]

CA: hey kar   
CA: howws it comin with vvris  
CG: ITS GOING WELL. MUCH BETTER THAN ANY OF YOUR ATTEMPTS OF COURTING HER WENT.  
CA: ouch that hurt kar  
CG: I'M POSITIVE VRISKA'S COMBAT BOOT MEETING YOUR STOMACH WAS MUCH MORE PAINFUL THAN THAT.  
CG: WHO AM I KIDDING? YOU PROBABLY FOUND PLEASURE IN THAT, YOU SICK FUCK.  
CA: are you tryin to hateflirt wwith me or somethin  
CG: WHAT IN THE EVER LOVING FUCK IS HATEFLIRTING?  
CG: THAT'S SOUNDS LIKE SOMETHING VRISKA WOULD DO.  
CG: TEASE THE PERSON TO TEARS THEN TELL THEM YOU LOVE THEM OR SOME SHIT.  
CA: oh yeah back to vvris  
CA: has gam told you about the party yet  
CG: NO. WHAT PARTY?  
CG: OH WAIT HE JUST MESSAGED ME  
CA: wwell pester me again wwhen you are done talkin to him

caligulasAquarium [CA] ceased pestering carcinoGeneticist [CG]

terminallyCapricious [TC] began pestering carcinoGeneticist [CG]

TC: HeY bEsTfRiEnD  
CG: HELLO GAMZEE.  
CG: ERIDAN SAID SOMETHING ABOUT YOU THROWING SOME BULLSHIT PARTY.  
CG: I CAN HARDLY BELIEVE ANYTHING THAT COMES OUT OF MOUTH THAT ISN'T SOME RANT ABOUT HOW IT'S HARD TO BE HIM OR ABOUT HIS FAILED LOVE ENDEAVORS.  
CG: ACTUALLY NO. SCRATCH THAT.  
CG: I CAN'T BELIEVE HOW IT'S HARD TO BE HIM. IT'S HIS FAULT HE FUCKS EVERYTHING UP.  
CG: HOWEVER, I CAN BELIEVE THE FAILED LOVE ENDEAVORS. THE SAP DOESN'T UNDERSTAND THE COMPLEXITIES OF ROMANCE.  
TC: hAhA yEaH mAn  
TC: Im ThRoWiNg OnE mOtHeRfUcKiNg PaRtY tOnIgHt  
TC: I wAs JuSt DrInKiNg SoMe MoThErFuCkInG fAyGo  
TC: AnD tHeN aLl Of A sUdDeN tHe SwEeT eLiXiR wAs GoNe  
TC: I wAs JuSt LeFt WiTh oNe MoThErFuCkInG eMpTy BoTtLe  
TC: I dOnT kNoW wHeRe ThE mOtHeRfUcKiNg LiQuId WeNt  
TC: It WaS jUsT gOnE  
TC: i WaS sO aLoNe  
TC: AlL mOtHeRfUcKiNg AlOnE  
TC: ThEn An IdEa HiT mE lIkE a MoThErFuCkInG mIrAcLe  
TC: I tHiNk It AcTuAlLy WaS a MiRaClE  
TC: i ShOuLd ThRoW a MoThErFuCkInG pArTy  
TC: So NoW i Am MoThErFuCkInG tHroWiNg A pArTy  
TC: WiTh AlL tHoSe PeOplE i WoUlDnT bE aLoNe  
CG: GAMZEE, YOU'VE SAID A LOT OF CRAZY AND STUPID THINGS IN YOUR LIFE, BUT THIS ONE QUITE POSSIBLY TAKES THE CAKE.  
CG: MAYBE YOU *DRANK*THE FAYGO?  
CG: ARE YOU OKAY, MAN? ARE YOU ON ANY NEW MEDICATIONS I SHOULD BE CONSIDERED ABOUT?  
TC: NaH bEsT fRiEnD  
TC: bUt SoMeOnE dId GiVe Me SoMe MoThErFuCkIn BrOwNiEs YeStErDaY  
TC: i ThInK tHeY wErE fIlLeD wItH like fAyGo AnD mOtHeRfUcKiNg MiRaClEs Or SoMe ShIt  
TC: I hAvEnT fElT tHe MoThErFuCkInG sAmE sInCe  
CG: OH MY GOG.  
CG: YOU ATE WEED BROWNIES.  
CG: GAMZEE, DO YOU HAVE ANY OF THOSE BROWNIES LEFT?  
TC: SuRe Do  
TC: Do YoU mOtHeRfUcKiNg WaNt SoMe?  
TC: I hAvE pLeNtY lEfT  
TC: tHeYrE mIrAcLe InFuSeD aNd TaStY  
CG: OKAY I HIGHLY RECOMMEND YOU QUIT EATING THOSE BROWNIES.  
CG: AS A MATTER OF FACT, I THINK YOU SHOULD THROW ALL OF THEM AWAY.  
CG: THEY ARE GONNA ROT YOUR BRAIN.  
TC: i WoUlD  
TC: bUt WhErE aM i EvEr GoNnA fInD bRoWnIeS lAtHeReD wItH mOtHeRfUcKiNg MiRaClEs AgAiN?  
TC: ThEsE mUsT hAvE bEeN a GiFt FrOm ThE mIrThFuL mEsSiAhS  
CG: OKAY WHAT THE FUCK EVER  
CG: THE PARTY IS TONIGHT RIGHT?  
TC: yEaH aRoUnD sEvEn  
TC: WhY? aRe YoU cOmInG?  
TC: iVe GoT bRoWnIeS  
CG: I'LL SEE YOU TONIGHT  
CG: AND PLEASE FOR YOUR OWN SAKE  
CG: DON'T EAT ANYMORE OF THE BROWNIES.

carcinoGeneticist [CG] ceased pestering terminallyCapricious [TC]

carcinoGeneticist [CG] began pestering caligulasAquarium [CA]

CG: DID YOU GIVE GAMZEE THE WEED BROWNIES?  
CA: wwhat are you talkin about  
CA: wwhat wweed browwnies  
CG: FIRST OFF, THAT WAS WAY TOO MANY "W"S IN THREE WORDS  
CG: SECOND, SOMEHOW GAMZEE MANAGED TO GET A HOLD OF SOME WEED BROWNIES AND NOW HE'S TALKING CRAZY.  
CA: he usually talks crazy anywways  
CG: NEVER MIND SHUT THE FUCK UP.  
CG: YOU PROBABLY WOULDN'T EVEN KNOW WHERE TO GET WEED, MUCH LESS HOW TO MAKE BROWNIES  
CG: SO THERE'S A PARTY TONIGHT AT GAMZEE'S PLACE  
CG: IN AROUND SIX HOURS TO BE EXACT  
CG: WHY DID I NEED TO MESSAGE YOU?  
CA: you see kar  
CA: if you take vvris to this party as your date youll be closer to gettin this ovver wwith   
CA: and shell be closer to fallin into my arms  
CA: gam pretty much set a date up for you  
CG: I DIDN'T REALIZE HOW OBSESSED WITH THIS PLAN YOU ARE. GAMZEE DIDN'T EVEN SAY A WORD ABOUT IT.   
CA: he is eatin wweed browwnies  
CA: he probably doesnt evven knoww wwho vvris is right noww  
CG: WE'VE GOT TO GET THOSE FROM HIM.  
CG: WHO THE HELL JUST GIVES SOMEONE WEED BROWNIES? IT PROBABLY WAS A MIRACLE THAT HE GOT DRUGS FOR FREE.  
CA: wwell kar i believve you havve a girl to ask out

caligulasAquarium [CA] ceased pestering carcinoGeneticist [CG]

Karkat grumbled to himself. How dare he just cease pestering him like that? He was fixing to get into a very good and very detailed rant. He debated on pestering him again just to yell at him about ending their chat, but decided against it. Sighing, he looked over at all his pesterchums. He clicked on Vriska's handle and began to type.

carcinoGeneticist [CG] began pestering arachnidsGrip [AG]

CG: HEY, VRISKA.  
AG: Yes, Karkat?  
CG: ARE YOU FREE TONIGHT?  
AG: Why do you ask? Are you planning on asking me on a other d8? It hasn't even 8een a full twenty four hours since you last saw me.  
AG: Man, you just can't stay away from me, can you?  
CG: GAMZEE IS THROWING A PARTY TONIGHT AND HE WANTS ME TO COME. I DON'T WANT TO BE DRAGGED INTO THAT SHITSTORM ALONE.  
CG: SO DO YOU WANT TO GO WITH ME?  
AG: I know about Makara's party.  
AG: In fact, I've already 8een asked to go by someone else :::;)

Karkat slammed his hands down on his desk. Someone else already asked her to go with them? Could that person not see what he had going with her? He ran a hand through his hair, trying to calm himself down. Grumbling to himself, he typed up his reply, hoping to not show his anger.

CG: OH REALLY NOW?  
CG: WHO ASKED YOU?  
AG: Wouldn't you like to know?  
CG: I WOULD, IN FACT. WAS IT ERIDAN? HE SETS HIMSELF UP FOR FAILURE SO MUCH. IT'S QUITE SAD.  
AG: No, it wasn't Eridork.   
AG: You know, Karkat, I never said if I declined that person's request or not.

He wanted to slam his head against his desk but did not. Instead he decided to bang on his head with his fist. He wasted too much time talking to Gamzee and Eridan to ask Vriska out. Not only that, but she probably didn't see him as boyfriend material since she agreed to go with someone else. His selfhate levels were currently over 9,000.

CG: WOULD YOU JUST TELL ME IF YOU ARE GOING OR NOT?  
CG: I DON'T HAVE TIME JUST TO SIT HERE AND PLAY MIND GAMES WITH YOU.  
AG: Suuuuuuuure you do. Let me guess, you have all the irons in the fire too, don't you?  
CG: SURE. YES. I HAVE ALL OF THE IRONS IN THE FIRE.  
CG: ALLLLLLLL OF THEM.  
AG: Aww, how sweet! You used 8 "L"s when you did my signature thing.  
AG: That's so cute <3

Karkat had then decided that Vriska was the queen of mixed signals.

CG: FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, JUST GIVE A STRAIGHT ANSWER ALREADY BEFORE I SHOOT MYSELF IN THE CROTCH.  
AG: Hmmmmmmmm  
AG: I don't know. I would feel kinda guilty if I showed up with someone else after I rejected Tavros...  
CG: OKAY WAIT, YOU MEAN TAVROS ASKED YOU TO GO WITH HIM TO A PARTY?  
CG: TAVROS NITRAM?  
CG: TAVROS THE KID WHO YOU PUSH DOWN THE STAIRS ON A WEEKLY BASIS AND BELITTLE HIS SELF ESTEEM?  
CG: UN FUCKING BELIEVABLE.  
AG: Well, he wasn't really asking me to go *with* him.  
AG: It was kind of like he was warning me not to go?  
AG: I don't know why though.  
AG: He said that he'd rather me go with him then someone else though.  
AG: Which I thought was kind of strange, 8ecause most of my encounters with him is me attempting to toughen him up and him still 8eing a wimp.  
AG: And now the runt is looking out for me. It would be cute if he wasn't so pathetic.  
CG: WELL WHAT DID YOU TELL HIM?  
AG: Karkat, I already told you that.  
AG: I declined wimpy 8oy-Skylark's request.  
AG: I'll go with you Karkat :::;)  
AG: I was planning on showing up regardless of what Nitram said. I just needed a ride.  
CG: OKAY GREAT  
CG: THAT TOOK FAR TOO FUCKING LONG JUST FOR YOU TO SAY YES.  
CG: I'LL PICK YOU UP AROUND SEVEN.  
AG: Okay then.   
AG: See you later <3

arachnidsGrip [AG] ceased pestering carcinoGeneticist [CG]

He smiled to himself at the heart shaped emoticon on his screen. So far they had been on one platonic date (which the platonic part was questionable, but he wasn't willing to admit that), one actual date, and now this. Were they moving too fast? They had known each other for two weeks and had kinda been friends for one. Vriska seemed like the kind of person to let all of her relationships mix together in a hurry no matter how the outcome may be. He, however, took things one step at a time. This may be going at the right pace, and he would work the guts up to confess soon.

And apparently Nitram had asked her to go with him. It was like he was trying to prevent the dare from happening, and Karkat could see why. Tavros had been against the entire plan from the start. Karkat had too, but he caved in when thoughts of respect fluttered into his mind. Maybe Tav could convince them to call it off. Only time would tell.

Karkat layed back in his bed. He had around six hours until he had to pick up Vriska, and he was going to relax until then.

And by relax he meant he was going to try to not think about the girl who captured the ocean in her eyes. 

...

At seven o'clock, Karkat pulled into the Serket's driveway. Nervously, he slid out of his car and knocked on the large front door. It truly was going to be awkward if Mrs. Serket answered the door, since this time he wasn't taking her daughter to a nice formal restaurant, but instead a wild party where most likely drinks and weed brownies would be served to underaged teens.

Luckily, Vriska answered the door. She grinned at him, "Let's go!"

However, he was busy taking in her appearance to reply.

She hasn't really gone all out dressing up, but Karkat found her attractive in really anything. She wore a tight black tank top and even tighter blue jeans. She adorned her red converse as always and her hair was just down. Even if her outfit was simple, she was still stunning in his eyes.

"Uh, yeah," he replied and she snickered. They got into his vehicle and sat in companionable silence as he drove to Gamzee's.

As the Makara residence came into view, you could already see a large mass of people. Many cars were parked alongside the street and multicoloured lights emitted from the windows of the large home. He parked his car at the curb and the duo got out of the vehicle. Karkat waited for Vriska and the first thing out of her mouth was, "This should be fun."

She charged ahead of him and into the large home. He followed behind her and sweat, music and the strong scent of alcohol infiltrated his senses. Hundreds of teenagers with red solo cups in hand stood around while others danced to the EDM music or played drinking games in the kitchen. Vriska had already vanished which worried Karkat. However, he had to find Gamzee.

He pushed his way up the stairs and to Gamzee's room. The door was closed and he prayed that he wouldn't find two kids doing the do on his best friend's bed when he opened the door. He quickly pushed the door open and there sat Gamzee in the middle of the floor. He had Tavros standing next to him and the drugged brownies on his left. He exclaimed, "Best friend! You made it!"

"Yeah, I did. And I really think you should stop eating those brownies. I'm sure Tavros agrees with me," he replied. There was only about five left on the plate. Tavros agreed, "See, Gam, even Karkat thinks you, uh, shouldn't be eating those."

"Man, what did mothefucking miracle infused brownies ever do to you guys?" Gamzee said, "But I guess if you motherfuckers don't want me to eat them, then I motherfucking won't."

He got up from his spot and picked up the plate. He set the plate on his nightstand next to the mountain of faygo bottles. He laughed, "I'll just motherfucking save them for later." 

Gamzee walked back over to his two bros and threw his arms around their shoulders, "I am so glad my main two invertebrothers could show up. Now let's go downstairs and enjoy this motherfucking party."

As they left the room they were suddenly aware of the music echoing throughout the household. Karkat hustled down the steps to look for Vriska. He looked around the kitchen and couldn't find her amongst the kids playing drinking games so he went into the living room that had become more of a dancefloor. He scanned the room and found her dancing with some kid with sunglasses on.

Who the hell wore sunglasses indoors? The guy seemed familiar, but then again he could only see part of him. He had blonde hair and sunglasses. He was taller than Vriska (which wasn't that hard to be, she was only like 5"6) and was a pretty thin guy. The mysterious man turned and he recognized him as Dave Strider. He wasn't sure on how he didn't recognize him immediately; the sunglasses were a dead giveaway. Perhaps he didn't because he was slightly blinded by rage. 

Vriska was dancing with another guy, Strider of all people, when Karkat had taken her here. To be fair, he hadn't exactly classified it as a date, but still. He seethed with anger and resisted the urge to punch Dave in the shades.

"Looks like someone is stealing your girl," said a voice next to him. He turned to see none other than Eridan Ampora. 

"No one has stolen her, Ampora," Karkat grumbled. The hipster laughed and he received the evil eye for doing so. He advised, "Well, you may want to do something to keep that statement true."

Karkat decided that he was going to do that. He slid up to her and tapped on her shoulder to get her attention. Vriska twirled around to face him, "Yes, Karkat?"

Before he could ask to dance with her, they were interrupted by a familiar voice. Sadly, it wasn't exactly a voice they wanted to hear. 

"Karkat? I didn't expect you to be here," Terezi said while walking towards them. She didn't have her cane with her, but it wasn't like she needed it. She only carried it around just in case her poor vision started to fade from bright lights. She glanced over at Vriska, "Oh. I'm not surprised to see you here."

"Geez. Thanks, Terezi," Vriska grumbled in response. Karkat replied, "Oh, hey. Yeah, Gamzee wanted me to show up so I came here with Vriska."

He snaked an arm around her waist and pulled her closer to him. She yelped in surprise from the sudden contact but grinned at him afterwards. She leaned closer to him, "So, Terezi, what are you doing here?"

Terezi's distaste for the couple was quite obvious, but she spoke with her usually cheerful, nasally tone of voice, "Why wouldn't I be here? Everyone I know is here," she paused for a moment, a wide grin forming on her features, "Hey, Vriska. Let's have a drinking competition."

Karkat watched as Vriska's eyes narrowed and lips pursed momentarily before her usual devilish smirk took its place. "You're on, Pyrope!"

Terezi and Dave, who was now tagging along, made their way to the dining room. Karkat and Vriska trailed behind them, his arm still wrapped around her waist. He whispered, "Vriska, I don't know what she's plotting but it doesn't seem innocent."

"I think she's trying to get revenge on me for when I beat Tavros in a drinking contest. To put things simply, things didn't end well for him. But she's forgotten one thing."

"What's that?"

"I can hold my liquor better than her," she laughed and he chuckled alongside her. She said in a much quieter voice, "I'm just happy that it feels like the Scourge Sisters are almost back in action."

He was sure that comment wasn't meant for him to hear, so he didn't reply. He gave her a reassuring squeeze and they entered the dining room. The two girls sat across from each other and Dave brought over a bottle of fireball whiskey and some shot glasses. Karkat sat down next to Vriska, and Dave sat across from him, next to Terezi. Vriska asked, "Same rules as usual?"

"You bet," Terezi replied, pouring the whiskey into two shot glasses. Karkat asked, "What are the usual rules?"

"Oh my God. Really, dude? You don't know Terezi and Vriska's drinking game rules?" Dave interjected. Vriska snapped, "Like you know them, Strider."

"Allow me to explain," Terezi started, "We play a form of 'Truth or Drink'. In standard 'Truth or Drink', one person asks a question. The other has the option to answer truthfully or ignore the question by taking a shot. That's pretty much the rules of the basic game."

"Buuuuuuuut in _our_ version, yes or no questions are different. You take a shot if the answer is no and you don't if the answer is yes. Also, the asker has the option to call the person out if they think they are lying. Then one of the people watching – which would be you two – gets to decide if they are being truthful or not. If the one who answered the question cannot prove themselves innocent and is deemed a dirty liar, they have to take another shot. If they were truthful, then the asker has to take a shot," Vriska explained. Dave shook his head, "You guys take all the fun out of drinking games."

"Who said justice wasn't fun?" Terezi replied. Karkat was starting to get annoyed. Okay, he just wanted them to go ahead and get the twisted gam started. He prayed that what Vriska said was true and that she could hold her liquor very well. He didn't want to take her home to her mom when she was shitface drunk. He interrupted, "Okay, just get this god awful game started. Who goes first?"

"Wellllllll, _I_ won our last game so therefore I ask the first question," Vriska grinned. Terezi's lips twisted into a frown, "Shoot."

"Why did you want to start a drinking competition with me?" She asked, cerulean eyes hardening as she spoke. She was getting to deep questions quick. Terezi remained straight faced as she took a shot. She then inquired, "Why did you miss Aradia's funeral?"

Shock coated Vriska's features before she could do anything to stop it. She groaned, "Do you have to ask such deep questions so quickly?"

"I'm the one asking the questions this round, Serket. Why did you miss Aradia's funeral?" Terezi responded. Sighing, Vriska took the shot. She grumbled quietly, "You already knew the answer anyways."

They quietly refilled their glasses and Vriska asked the next question, "Do you really think you can beat me at this?"

"No, but I think I can get the answers I want out of you before its over," she answered, taking her shot. At this rate, they'd both be drunk before one could get a solid answer. Terezi questioned, "Do you feel guilty for what happened to her?"

Terezi didn't need to say who the girl she was refering to was. They could all tell it was Aradia. Karkat didn't know what happened between the three girls, but he knew that Aradia died in a carwreck the summer before their junior year. He didn't think Dave knew anything about Terezi and Vriska's past unless Terezi had told him about it. Telling Karkat about what happened was something Vriska obviously didn't want to do.

"Well, of course I feel guilty," Vriska replied, nonchalantly. Karkat wanted to think that she was feigning her careless tone, but she pulled it off so well that it was hard to tell. She added, "You probably want to refill your shot glass before my next question, sweetie."

Grumbling, Terezi refilled the small container. Vriska tapped on her chin to make it look as if she were deep in thought on what to ask. She simply inquired, "How have you been?"

"What kind of shit are you pulling, Serket?" Terezi asked, clearly confused by the average question. Vriska replied in a mock tone, "I'm the one asking the questions this round, Pyrope. How have you been?"

"I've been fine," Terezi said, "Are you really sorry about any of the things that happened?"

Vriska's hand frantically grasped Karkat's under the table. He intertwined their fingers and gave her hand a good squeeze. He knew what was coming up. She was going to say yes. Thing was, Vriska doesn't "do" apologies. She doesn't "do" anything that involves caring about someone. This would be one sting to her pride.

He watched as she sighed, her hand squeezing his hand so hard he could hardly feel his fingers.

"Yes."

The look on Terezi's face was different. Her features were twisted up in confusion, clearly trying to spot the lie. 

"Bullshit."

And this was where Dave or Karkat had to decided if Vriska was being truthful or not. Terezi turned to look at Dave and he threw his hands up, "Don't leave this up to me. I'm not gonna be the judge of this rivalry."

So everyone's eyes turned to Karkat. Dave's were shaded, Terezi's were judging and Vriska's were filled with worry. His next move would probably embarrass Vriska, but the it was the only thing he knew to do to prove her innocence. 

He pulled their interlocked hands out from under the table. Vriska looked at him with widen eyes and squawked. She quickly covered her mouth with her other hand. As much as he wanted to, now was not the time to tease her. 

Her knuckles were white from holding onto him so tight and his fingertips were a bit more red than usual. He announced, "I highly doubt she would be clinging to my hand for dear life if she was lying. You should know that Vriska straight up _doesn't_ apologize to people. Just like she doesn't act like she cares about people. She may act like she doesn't care, but very few people actually don't give a shit about others. Despite popular belief, she isn't one of those people. So go ahead and take a sip. Case closed."

He slid their hands back under the table. Vriska visibly relaxed as Terezi took another shot. The girl next to Karkat whispered to him, "You know, I could kiss you right now for that. It really helped. So, uh, thank you."

"What's stopping you?" He replied. He may have been cool and collected on the outside, but inside he was praying Terezi and Dave couldn't hear them and wasn't reading their lips. They probably couldn't hear them due to all the other noise echoing around the house, but their ability to read lips was questionable. Terezi most likely couldn't due to her bad eyesight. Dave's vision was fine but he was wearing those dumbass shades so it was probably difficult to see some things.

She leaned forward and pressed her lips against his tan cheek. He felt warmth flowing to his cheeks and was suddenly glad this room had shitty lighting. She sat back in her seat, "I never specified the kind of kiss."

He rolled his eyes while she just winked. Dave groaned, "Really guys? Come on now. The makeout train doesn't stop at the Makara place, okay?"

"Quit getting jealous, Strider. Don't you wish these lips were on your own?" Vriska teased. Terezi interrupted, "Okay! Back to the game at hand! Vriska, I believe it was your turn to ask a question."

"Right. Terezi, are you over Karkat yet?" Vriska said with a devilish grin. She was getting revenge for the last question in her own devious way. Terezi's cheeks were turning as red as her glasses. "Remember, its a yes or no question. A shot means no. We never made rules to avoid this kind of question so that means you can't skip out of this one."

Karkat almost wanted to tell her to quit but he was curious himself. Terezi answered, "Well yea-"

"Objection!" Vriska called out, clearly already having too much fun with this. It was up to either Dave or Karkat to decide if Terezi was lying or not. Before one could voice their opinion, Vriska voiced her own, "If you truly were over him, would you have confronted me the other day about my intentions with him?"

Terezi quickly took her shot.

"Well, do you actually like him or is he just a game to you?" She shot back. Suddenly things had become about Karkat and he didn't know how he should feel about it. He and Vriska's hands were still intertwined so that was a pretty good sign to him that she had romantic feelings towards him. Vriska answered, "Well, yeah. Do you think I would've kissed him on the cheek and let him hold my hand if I didn't?"

Karkat was unsure if that was a confession or not, but he wasn't going to forget those words. Vriska had also unknowingly asked her question. Terezi took another shot, which meant her answer was no. She asked, her words slurring a bit, "How's your arm?"

Karkat thought the question was strange but didn't interrupt. Surprisingly, Vriska took a shot to avoid the question. Both girls refilled their glasses in silence and he noticed how Terezi's hand was quite shaky. She was a bit buzzed. If he recalled correctly, Terezi had five shots so far and Vriska had two. Vriska inquired, "Do you think Sollux hates me?"

"I can't blame if he does, so yeah. Did you think he didn't?"

More whiskey burnt her throat and went into her glass.

"What about Tavros?"

Terezi drank more as well, "I don' tink he can truly hate anyone." It was obvious she was getting drunk. "Do you hate him?"

Vriska laughed and drank her own shot. The game was becoming much calmer but the two girls were slowly becoming intoxicated. Vriska asked, "Do you hate me?"

Terezi consumed more fireball whiskey. Vriska smiled and squeezed Karkat's hand a bit tighter. The other girl said, "Have ya talk'd to Meenah lately?"

Vriska drank to signal her answer as no. Her own hand was getting a bit wobbly as she poured more whiskey.

They both asked a few more questions. It was sort of like they were catching up in their own weird way. It was becoming quite obvious they weren't going to able to handle a whole lot more.

Dave, who had been pretty quiet the entire time, announced, "Okay, these two need to stop. Terezi seemed to get the information she wanted and Vriska was devious and happy. They're both almost drunk and their parents will probably do a fucking acrobatic flip off the handle if they come home all intoxicated and shit. So yeah. They're done."

"Who won? I had less shots and I think I'm in a better condition than her so I'm pretty sure I won," Vriska said while standing up. Dave replied, "Sure. Whatever floats your crazy ass boat."

"Sweet! That means I won this baby," she picking up the whiskey bottle. Dave ushered Terezi out and mumbled "good luck" to Karkat. 

Vriska had already begun to drink from the bottle.

She already had around eight shots and Karkat didn't know exactly how well she could handle her alcohol. He did know, however, that she needed to stop. Karkat spoke up, "Vriska, you really don't need to be drinking anymore."

She pulled the bottle away from her lips. "Karkat, can't I enjoy my prize in peace? I swear I'm not even that buzzed. I can probably walk in the straightest line you will ever see."

He decided that she lied when she was under the influence and he wanted to see her try to walk in a straight line. He replied, "Okay then. If you are so sure that you have hardly an alcohol in you system, let's see you walk in that straight line then."

"Pssh, watch me," she said while flicking hair over her shoulder. Karkat backed up a few steps and motioned for her to walk forward. It almost felt like he was teaching a kid to walk, but except a hot girl who was possibly drunk. She held her arms out and walked towards him. Her steps seemed calculated and she was quite wobbly. She approached him and just barely tripped onto him. He caught her and she nervously laughed, "Okay, okay. Maybe I am a littlllleeee more drunk then I thought."

"You think?" He replied and she pushed off of him to pout. She pouted, "Can I pleaaaaaaaase drink the small amount of fireball whiskey that I won? I deserve it after all of that."

She jut out her bottom lip and widened her eyes. The pouty face didn't work on him. She clasped her hands under her chin. Okay, the pouty face was tempting but he wasn't gonna cave. She then furrowed her brows. Fuck it. Fuck this. Fuck everything. That face was adorable and he couldn't tell her no, even if this was going to end badly for both of them. He sighed and gestured for her to continue. She cheered, "Yes! I knew you were gonna let me! I mean, I would've drank it anyways if even if you sad no, but still."

Karkat then remembered Gamzee was still in possession of weed brownies. Judging by the fact that they had been there for around an hour, Gamzee had probably not been in his room. It was time to get rid if those mind rotting sweets. He turned to Vriska, "Please don't do anything stupid while I'm gone."

She gave him a thumbs up and he hesitantly left the dining room. He shoved past people to get upstairs and into Gamzee's room. Lucky for him, no one was in there and the brownies sat on the nightstand like earlier. He grabbed the plate and debated on what to do with them. He couldn't carry them downstairs because then Gamzee might see him and other teens may want them. He didn't need everyone to be stoned. He could just chunk them out the window but then some drunk kid may find and eat them. He could eat them himself but that was possibly the worst idea he came up with. 

Karkat suddenly wished he had Vriska do this. She was much sneakier and, even though he loathed to admit it, she was much better at making up plans quickly.

Grumbling to himself, he simply threw them in the trash and threw some faygo bottle on top of them. It was good enough for now. He set the plate back on the nightstand; maybe Gamzee would think someone else ate them.

Karkat went back down the stairs to find his lady. He went back into the dining room. Vriska wasn't there; however, there was an empty whiskey container on the table and others were setting up another drinking game. Fuck. He silently cursed at his past self for being stupid enough to leave his idiotic, intoxicated crush by herself. 

Karkat made his way through the kitchen where the was a fair amount of unconscious teens laying around and others stumbling around them. He didn't see her amongst the drunken mess, so he charged on to the living room.

People were still dancing, most quite promiscuously. A large majority of them danced in the center of the room while the others sat on the couches, a few receiving sloppy lap dances. Karkat prayed that Vriska was not giving anyone a lap dance. That would be awkward for both of them and the person getting the said dance. 

Luckily, he didn't spot her dancing so he entered the game room. 

There she was, leaning against some dorky, dark haired guy with glasses. She clung onto the guy's ghostbuster's shirt to keep herself upright and helped her up some. Karkat walked up to the set, "Vriska, you disappeared on me."

"Oh heyyyyyyyy, Karkat," she replied. The guy she was still holding on to interrupted, "Uh, hey. I'm John."

"Great. I'm Karkat," he replied warily. They awkwardly shook hands. John continued, "A friend of mine was moving a drinking game into the dining room and I found Vriska in there. I didn't really think she needed more alcohol in her system so I kinda ushered her into here."

"Okay. Well, I'm her...boyfriend. And I really think we should be going," he retorted. He wasn't sure how to state their relationship, but boyfriend sounded best. Karkat didn't really like this John guy so far. Sure, he helped keep Vriska from getting anymore drunk, but he got the slightest feeling that he kinda liked her. He didn't need that. 

"Oh, well do you need some, er, help getting her into your car?" John asked with a goofy smile on his face. Karkat wasn't sure what he was smiling about but he honestly didn't care. He glanced down at Vriska. She looked up at him and stammered, "G-go ahead and talk about me as if I'm not here. Not like I have ears or a-anything."

"I think I can get her," Karkat replied. Vriska let go of John's shirt and extended her arm, "Carry me, peasant!"

"I'm not a peasant. If anything you should be bowing down to me for hauling your ass around," he grumbled back. She wrapped her arm around his neck and pulled on his hair. He yelped who she laughed, "Don't deny it. You love carrying my fine ass around."

"I should just take you home to Arachne drunk for that." She uncurled her other arm from around John and grabbed onto Karkat. He then proceeded to pick her up bridal style while she loosely held onto the back of his neck and shoulders. He was glad Vriska was pretty light – that or he was stronger than he thought – since he was carrying practically all of her weight. John chuckled, "You two certainly are a pair. I'll get the doors for you."

"Thanks," Karkat grumbled in response. Vriska nuzzled her face into his chest and giggled over nothing. John opened the game room door for them and lead them through the household. He opened the front do for them and said goodbye. Karkat just nodded his head while Vriska said something about Nic Cage to him.

Karkat reached his car then realized he couldn't unlock the door while carrying Vriska. He said, "Vriska."

"Yeeeeeeees?"

"Im gonna set you down, okay?"

"Okaaaay," she slurred. Karkat gently placed her on the ground and made sure she was balanced before moving his hands from her waist. He seriously felt like he was carrying a kid around. He pulled his keys out of his pocket and unlocked his vehicle. He opened the passenger side door and asked, "Can you get in on your own?"

"Of course I can! I'm the very best there ever was," Vriska drunkenly announced and stumbled into the car. He closed the door for her her and got in on his own side. He started the car and began to drive.

Karkat wondered where he should take her. He couldn't take her home in this state; Arachne would kill him and then her. It was already nine, and even though it wasn't that late, it probably was to her mom. He didn't have much of a choice but to take her to his house.

A soft snore broke his train of thought. He glanced over at her. Vriska had passed out in her seat. He laughed to himself and sped his driving up. He was a bit tired himself.

They reached his house and Vriska was still asleep. He debating on waking her up but decided against it. He slid out of his side and walked around to hers. He opened up her door and unbuckled her seatbelt. He carefully slid one arm behind her neck and one under her knees and picked her up. Karkat shut the car door with his foot and strode to the front door of his house. He couldn't open the door since Vriska was currently in his arms so her resorted to kicking the door a few times. He yelled, "Kankri Vantas! Quit jacking off to stupid ass trigger warnings and open the door! Kankri!"

He heard some heavy footsteps and then the door opened to reveal his older brother. Kankri's eyes widened when he saw the unconscious girl in his younger sibling's arms, "May I ask why you are carrying a girl?"

"No, you may not. Now get the fuck out of my way so I can set her down and I won't be carrying a girl," Karkat snapped. Kankri shifted to let him pass by and responded, "Hey now, she could get offended by using curse words so try not to use them."

"She cusses like a sailor, fuckass," Karkat grumbled while walking up the stairs. He entered his room and laid her down on his bed. He realized her outfit probably wasnt that comfortable to sleep in, but he wasn't willing to change her. He covered her up with the blankets. Now where was he going to sleep?

He contemplated sleeping on the couch but fuck that. He want going to sleep on the couch in his own fucking house. Vriska and him were now going to share a bed.

He grabbed some pajama pants out of his dresser and went into the bathroom to change. Even if she was asleep, he wasn't taking any chances of her waking up and seeing him changing. 

He exited the bathroom in only some sleeping pants and bumped into Kankri. His brother asked, "So why is there some girl asleep in your bed?"

"None of your fucking business," he retorted, crossing his arms. Kankri held his head, "You really need to stop using so many inappropriate words. How long will she be staying?"

"Dont get your triggered panties in a twist, she's only staying for the night. I just couldn't take her home like that. Dumbass got herself drunk when she knows her mom is strict," Karkat sighed, "What the fuck ever. I'm going to bed."

He pushed past his sibling who asked, "You aren't sleeping in the same bed as her, are you?"

"Watch me!" He yelled back and shut the door to his room. He turned off the lights and climbed into bed next to Vriska. He couldn't really see her in the darkness but he heard her breathing and soft snores. Sighing, he bundled up under the blankets.

The door to his room opened up and he hear Kankri say, "Keep your door open."

Karkat rolled his eyes even though Kankri couldn't even see him. A few moments later, his eyes fluttered shut as he fell asleep.


	9. Of Hangovers and Arguments

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Vriska has a raging hangover and a low tolerance for bullshit

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I intended on posting this a few days ago but life got in the way and it took me longer to finish up the last few hundred words than I expected. Enjoy~

Vriska's eyes fluttered open. The room was brightly lit from the morning light, and she quickly covered her eyes again. Her head throbbed, and she buried her face into the pillow next to her.

Wait. The thing she nuzzled her face against definitely did not feel like a pillow. It was much firmer and gave off heat. Vriska was then suddenly aware of the arm that was draped over her waist. She didn't want to open her eyes and face the light again, but she had a pretty good feeling that this was a person.

Curiosity got the best of her, so she shielded her eyes from the light, and she cautiously peeked them open. It took her a moment to realize that Karkat Vantas was laying shirtless in front of her. Well, cuddling with her was a better way to describe it.

Vriska didn't know if she should laugh, scream, or kick Karkat where the sun doesn't shine.

She shrieked for a minute but stopped when it made her head hurt worse. Without thinking, she buried her face into him more.

"Shut up and go back to sleep," Karkat said groggily. He pulled her closer to him and dozed off. Vriska squawked and proceeded to hit him in the chest. She cautiously said, "Karkat. Wake up"

How could his dumb ass not be curious as to what happened last night? Oh wait, she was the only one who was shitfaced drunk. Well, that was even better because she would get solid answers and pain medicine when he awoke. 

"Karaaaaaaaat, wake uuuuuuuup!" She chided. She heard a muffled "shut the fuck up" and he hid his face in her hair. 

Desperate times call for desperate measures. She grasped his toned arm (she would've spent more time marveling his build if her head didn't hurt like a bitch and if she wanted to make sure they didn't do the do) and leaned towards his neck. Hesitantly, she bit down on his neck.

"Gah, Vris, what the fuck?" Karkat groaned. She released his neck with a wet pop.

"You wouldn't wake up from anything else. You may have a hickey from that, but I sort of doubt it since I didn't bite on it long," she replied. Karkat moved his hand off of her hip and groggily rubbed his face. She continued, "Now, Karkles, why am I in your bed with you and a raging hangover?"

"Your stupid self got drunk as fuck. I couldn't take you home to your mom in that condition, so I brought you here. And like hell I wasn't gonna sleep in my own bed just because you were in it," he replied. He sat up and stretched while she burrowed herself further under the covers. She asked, "Did we, uh, _do_ anything?"

"As far as I know, no. You fell asleep on the car ride here," he answered and got out of bed. She figured she might as well do the same and go search for some Tylenol while she was at it. She slid out from underneath the covers while holding her head. The room was pretty cold – wait no she just wasn't wearing pants.

She felt her cheeks heat up and she screeched, "Karkat! What the fuck happened to my pants!?"

"What do you mean?" He said and turned around. His eyes widened and he covered them up to prevent himself from seeing her in just her panties, "Vriska! Go put some pants on!"

"I would if I knew where they were!"

"You must've kicked them off in your sleep or something! Check the covers!"

"Quit yelling at me! My head hurts enough without your annoying voice ringing in it!" She yelled and flipped the covers back. Her jeans were bunched up at the bottom of the bed and she quickly grabbed them. She held them in her hands and looked up at Karkat, "I don't want to put these tight things back on."

"Jesus, Vriska. Just put some pants on already," he replied, hands still over his eyes. Vriska asked, "Can I wear some of your pajama pants?"

"I don't care! Cover yourself up or something!" 

"What did I say about yelling at me!?"

"What's going on? Why are you two screaming?" A man said from the doorway. He and Vriska made eye contact and she saw his eyes trail downwards. Her cheeks were on fire as she screeched while getting onto the bed and covering up her lower body with the blankets. Karkat uncovered his eyes and yelled at the guy, "Kankri! Get out!"

"Karkat, just give me some of your sweat pants or something!"

"Why isn't she wearing pants!? Did you two have sex? Karkat, we've been over this; if you aren't going to be a celibate, then you could at least wait until marriage!"

"Both of you, shut the fuck up! Vriska, I'll get you some. Kankri, we didn't fuck now get your prudish ass out of my room!" Karkat stormed over to his dresser and pulled open a drawer. He grabbed something and threw it at Vriska. She caught it and it turned out to be a pair of pajama pants with the Avenger symbol on them. She debating on starting a Marvel vs. DC war at that moment but decided against it. Vriska sighed, "Thanks. Now could you and whoever that is please leave so I could put these on? You've both seen enough of my glorious skin for one day."

Karkat walked towards his door and shoved the guy – his name was Canker or something – out, slamming the door as he left. She heard multiple muffled yells, so she assumed they were arguing again. Sighing, she got up and put the fuzzy pants on. She decided she was gonna steal one of his t-shirts while she was at it. He searched his dresser and found a basic black shirt. She quickly took off her old shirt and slid Karkat's on. It was much bigger than she thought it would be. The neck almost fell off her shoulder. She didn't necessarily care. Her main focus was to get some pain medicine at that moment.

Vriska exited his room and was quickly blinded from the brightly lit house. She squinted her eyes trying to a adjust to the light as more pain shot through her cranium. She also realized she had no idea where anything was in his house. She heard the two boys arguing downstairs, so she followed their loud voices which made her head throb more with each annoying syllable. 

She eventually made it into the kitchen where they were arguing. Her head hurt way too much for her to comprehend anything they were saying. She covered her ears and felt tears prickling at her eyes, threatening to stream down her face. She shut her eyes and tried her best to block them out. They were just so _loud._ Each word they shrieked cause an acute stab of pain in her head. As far as she knew, they hadn't even noticed her enter the room. She snapped, "Both of you, shut up!"

Everything fell silent around her. She didn't move from her spot and just took in the wonderful quietness. Someone touched her arm, and she flinched from the sudden contact. Her eyes snapped open, and Karkat stood in front of her. 

He had a worried look on his face; his brows were furrowed and his lips formed a small frown. He still had his hand extended from where he attempted to comfort her. He spoke in the quietest voice she'd ever heard him emit, "Vris, are you okay?"

"Just give me some kind of headache medicine. Aspirin, Tylenol, benadryl, I don't care. Just make my head quit hurting," she replied quietly. Normally she would keep up her façade and act like she didn't get hangovers. But it felt like someone was continuously beating on her head with a club. She felt weak and puny asking him to get the medicine for her, yet it wasn't like she knew where it was in the Vantas's household. Maybe Karkat would forget about this incident, and she could be fearless to him once again.

She continued to clutch her head, the pressure alleviating some of the pain. She was glad they'd finally quit bickering so their echoing voices didn't rattle inside her head. 

A moment later, Karkat held out two pills and a glass of water. She eagerly grabbed the items, popped the pills into her mouth, and drank the water. He gestured to their breakfast table, "Want to sit down?"

She nodded and ungracefully plopped down into one of the chairs. Both of the Vantas boys sat on either side of her and across from each other. Vriska dropped her head down onto the table, her hair splaying all across the table. After a moment, she felt a hand weave it's way into her dark tresses; she assumed it was Karkat. The first to break the silence was Canker or whatever the hell his name was, "So Karkat, are you going to introduce me to your, er, friend?"

Vriska was not ready for them to start to argue just yet. She wanted the medicine to kick in first. Despite her unspoken protests, Karkat said, "Uh, right. Vriska?"

"Hm?" She said while sitting up. She put pressure on her temples as a weak attempt to stop the throbbing. 

"Vriska, this is my brother, Kanrki. Kankri, this is my," he paused for a moment, clearly unsure of how to state their relationship, "this is my good friend, Vriska Serket. There now you have been introduced. Get acquainted or whatever."

Vriska had forgotten that he had an older brother. Wasn't he in seminary school or something? That would explain the prudish nature.

Kankri asked, "Do you have any triggers?"

"Triggers?" Vriska asked. She heard Karkat groan and a small smack which probably meant he had facepalmed. He explained for his brother, "Is there anything that will trigger you? Anything that will make you angry, uncomfortable, depressed, etc?"

"Nah, I'm pretty tough," Vriska said, complimenting herself. Kankri let out a breathless laugh, nearly a scoff. She cocked her head to the side in confusion, "What?"

"You say you are pretty tough, but you were nearly in tears over a headache not even five minutes ago," Kankri replied, arms crossed. Vriska jerked upright and Karkat accidentally pulled her hair from her sudden movement. She turned back to glare at him, and he released her hair. She opened her mouth to go off on the douchebag in the girly, red sweater, but was cut off by Karkat, "Okay. Kankri, shut up. Vriska, don't even start. We are all irritable and hungry, so perhaps someone should go to McDonald's or something to get breakfast. That sound good?"

Vriska was still seething so she just grumbled. Kankri announced, "That is fine. Who is going to get it? Me or you?"

"I will. Last time you went, you lectured the workers on how asking customers about their triggers is very important and didn't even bring home the right food. I know what you want. Vriska, what do you want to from McDonald's?"

"Just get me whatever you get," she grumbled, dropping her head back onto the table. She heard his chair scratch against the floor so she assumed he got up. She listened to his footsteps disappear. It sounded like he went upstairs. She sat in silence with Kankri for a moment before she heard Karkat's steps returning; this time they were louder, so he must've put shoes on. He announced, "Alright, I will be back in a little bit. If I come back and you two are fighting, I'm going to get a big T-shirt that says 'Our Get Along Shirt' and will force you both to wear it."

"We aren't kids," they said in unison. Karkat scoffed, "I know, but you both act like you are. I'll back soon."

Vriska felt him press a chaste kiss into her hair and then his footsteps grew quieter until she heard a door slam. She sure was glad her hangover was starting to subside since she wouldn't be able to handle the loudmouth next to her with a throbbing skull. 

"So, Vriska," he started, "what exactly is your relationship with my brother?"

Vriska sat up. He had a good question. What exactly was their relationship? They hadn't known each other long, yet they had learned a lot about each other in this time. They had gone on a few dates and ate lunch together five times a week. They had kissed each other – not on the lips – multiple times. Hell, he had even met her mother and slept in the same bed as Vriska. Doesn't this constitute a relationship? 

She replied, "We're friends. Close ones – reaaaaaaaally close ones."

"Uh huh. Just how close?"

"Okay, the only other way I know how to pu– wait, why am I telling you this?"

"I'm just curious of how you will be affecting my brother and possibly our family."

Speaking of family, she hadn't contacted her mother. Shit. Where was her phone? She quickly got up from the table, said a quick excuse me, and went to Karkat's room. She had to have dropped it somewhere in his room. She checked around in the covers and didn't find it. She looked under the bed and there it was.

Vriska cheered to herself and pressed the home button. It was alive with twenty percent battery life. She had five missed calls from her mother and two texts from an unfamilar contacted labelled "John". She didn't have time to discover the new contact; she needed to call her mom. She quickly called her back. It rang twice before her mom's voice filled her ears, "Vriska Serket, where are you?"

"Oh, hey mom. Sorry, Karkat and I ran into Kanaya yesterday and I went home with her. I spent the night and I thought I text you, but I guess I didn't."

"M'hmm. Okay then. We'll see about that. So when will you be back home?"

"Uh, does seven sound good?"

"I guess so. You won't be going out for awhile after you get back so enjoy your last few hours of freedom."

"Okay. Bye, mom."

She ended the call and text Kanaya.

"Hey. If my mom calls you, cover for me. The story is that Karkat and I 8umped into you yesterday, and I spent the night with you. M'kay? Thank yoooooooou!"

The door slammed downstairs. Was Karkat back already? She walked out of his room and saw Kankri standing next to a man taller than him. She didn't know who the person was, so she was going to abscond into Karkat's room before she was noticed. Well, she was until her phone went off.

The duo looked at her. The mysterious man asked, "Who's the cutie in pajamas, Kankri?"

Vriska decided that she may as well go downstairs now that she had been noticed. Kankri answered, "This is Vriska."

The guy looked her up and down; she considered tossing hair behind her shoulder, jutting out her hip, and grinning but decided that would be a fruitless endeavor since she was in pajamas. It was hard to be appealing in pajamas.

While he was examining her, she got a good look at him. He was very tall, could most likely rest his head on top of Kankri's, if he leaned up a little bit. He somewhat had a swimmer's build, but he was more muscular with broader shoulders. His hair was pushed back in a greaser-like style. He had two twin scars on his forehead and a cigarette in his mouth. He had a 1950s vibe and was quite attractive. He perked up, "Well, doll, it's nice to meet you. The name's Cronus Ampora."

She flinched when she heard his last name, and it didn't go unnoticed by the two men. Kankri commented, "Cronus, I think you triggered her. You should've asked about her triggers first."

"Whatever you say, Kankri. Kitten, what's wrong?" Cronus said, reaching out and placing a hand on her shoulder. Vriska retorted, "Okay, let me get this straight, you're last name is Ampora. Do you have a brother named Eridan?"

"Yeah, why?"

"I'm just shocked that someone that looks like you can be the brother of Eridork."

"Eridork. I like that. Speaking of brothers, is your's around, Kankri? Eridan wanted me to tell him somethin'," Cronus laughed, pulling Vriska closer to him causing her to squawk. She slapped a hand over her mouth hoping to not make any other odd noises. Kankri raised an eyebrow at the taller male's action, "No, he went to get us something to eat, but he should be back soon," he glanced down at Vriska, "And I would be careful of what you call and do to Vriska when he's around. You might trigger one of his tirades or a jealousy fit." 

"Oh, are they dating?"

"They won't admit to it."

"Hey! He and I just have a complicated relationship, and it's simply not either of you two's business!" Vriska protested, snaking out of Cronus's grasp and crossing her arms. He chuckled, "This does seem like someone Karkat would like. Feisty."

"He brought her home last night in his arms. They shared a bed together."

"Oh, really? Man, Karkat has more game than I thought. Doll, how was it?"

Vriska was positive her cheeks red as Kankri's sweater. How dare they gossip about her right in front of her. She tossed her hair over her shoulder, hoping the bravado would overpower her obvious embarrassment, and announced, "We did NOT do anything of that sort! As a matter of fact, I fell asleep on the way home, so unless he's a creep, nothing occurred."

Cronus remained blank faced before starting to laugh, "That's cute, doll. I didn't expect a spitfire like you to be like Kankri over here!"

Kankri's face grew pink, but he kept his serious face. Vriska put her hands on her hips and asked, "What's that supposed to mean?"

Cronus just grinned, "You're a virgin."

Kankri's face still remained blank, but his cheeks matched his sweater. He wasn't ashamed of his celibacy, but obviously the topic bothered him – or just the thought of his brother doing the deed across the hall did.

Vriska, however, didn't let her shock show. (She would never admit it, but she was thoroughly embarrassed.) A grin played on her lips,. and she took a step closer to the taller male. The gap closed between them as she pressed her torso against his. She had to lean upwards and stand on her tip toes to get close to his height, and even then he could still rest his head on top of her own. She placed a hand on his chest and the other on the side of his jaw, lightly pulling his face closer to hers. Her grin grew as she saw the faint color rise to his cheeks and his cigarette wavered a bit, threatening to slide out. He regained his composure, showing a devilish smirk. She whispered into his ear to where only he could hear her, making sure her bottom lip just barely grazed his ear every few words, "When did I ever say that? If Karkat and I had done what you think we did, then Kankri here would probably still be tired. He wouldn't have gotten much sleep because the noise. Karkat and I _definitely_ would not be walking properly right now."

He placed his hands on her waist and her muscles tensed up from surprise. Okay, she planned on just taunting him with a few lies. She didn't actually expect him to react in an equally flirtatious manner. She should've expected this from an Ampora.

She leaned back so she would no longer be breathing into his ear and was just facing him instead. Cronus smiled at her, cigarette pointing upwards with the curl of his lips. He replied, "Kitten, this attitude suits you much more than your previous one."

Before Vriska could answer, the front door opened up. They were all standing at the bottom of the stairs which was parallel to the main entrance. Karkat walked in to see her pressed against Cronus and Kankri awkwardly observing the two.

Fuck.

"Hey, I finally got the damned food. Man, they were busy today. Both lines we–" His tone died out as he saw the scene in front of him. Vriska watched as his eyes widened before narrowing into slits. She pushed out of Cronus's grasp and walked towards her almost-boyfriend. Cronus, on the other hand, just waved, "Hey, Karkat. What all did you get?"

She stood in front of him, not saying anything for a moment. His eyes were glaring daggers at her and occasionally would stab at Cronus. She wrapped her fingers around his hand that was holding the bag and got on her tiptoes to press a kiss to his cheek. She whispered, "Glad you're back."

Karkat grumbled something incoherent, and she pryed the bag out of his hands. She then took his hand and dragged him to the kitchen, "Took long enough for you to get here. Man, I'm starving."

She set the bag on the table and rummaged through it's contents. She laid the biscuits on the table before looking back at Karkat. His ruddy brown eyes still were narrowed, but she could see a hint of jealousy in them – or maybe disbelief. They never left her frame. He was biting his lip, most likely to prevent himself from going on a tirade. 

His brother was going on one in the other room. Kankri's lecture was much quieter compared to the one earlier, so she couldn't really make out what he was saying. Cronus's laughter accompanied the other male's words every so often.

"We need to talk," Karkat announced, as if it wasn't obvious. She didn't really want to discuss their relationship right in front of his brother. She asked, "Want to eat and talk in your room?"

He nodded and swiftly picked up two biscuits with one hand and her wrist with the other. He held her in a bruising grip, and she nearly winced. She had definitely pissed him off. He dragged her upstairs and into his room. He slammed the door shut and immediately started his shitfit, "Okay, what the fuck. I leave for like twenty minutes to get you some food and come back to see you all over Ampora? What the hell, Serket?"

"Karkat, what are we?" Vriska asked, thinking that was a more important topic. So many questions lied on the table in front of them. The question didn't seem to phase him – he was probably too blinded by rage for it to. His stance remained aggressive as he stared holes into her. Vriska, who was not one to back down, met his fierceness with the same force. He snarled, "I don't fucking know! What are you and Cronus? You two seem to get along just fine."

Vriska groaned and unwrapped her breakfast. She wasn't going to argue on an empty stomach. After taking a big bite, she answered, "For your information, nothing was going on between us since we aren't anything. I was getting a little revenge and he got a bit handsy. What can you expect from an Ampora? Now you have no reason to get all pissed off at me since _apparently_ we aren't anything either!"

"Revenge? Yeah right. More like you were getting _frisky_. Please, Serket, I know what the fuck I saw. I think I have the right to my anger and right now, all that anger us pointed towards you an– holy fuck don't eat while I'm yelling at you!" He screamed back, waving around his arms. Vriska was going to finishing this damn biscuit whether he liked it or not. She finished up – she had been munching on it while he bitched – and took a dramatic pause before continuing their argument, "Clearly, you don't know what you saw. I kissed your cheek, not his. I slept in _your_ bed last night, not his. I like your ignorant, egotistical ass. Not his. Get that through your damn thick head. Don't get mad at me for defending US. If you didn't jump to bullshit conclusions, I could've explained that I had to reassure them that you and I didn't fuck. Let's be honest, we probably never will since _someone_ won't kiss my damn lips or ask me out because they are a fucking pansy who probably doesn't even have the balls to even think about it!"

She had gotten in his face while insulting him so now they were chest to chest. She loathed the fact that she had to look up to meet his stupid eyes. There was a pause and she was fixing to jump back in and tear him down some more – but he grabbed her chin and smashed their lips together.

The shock wore off quickly when his tongue swiped across her lips. She grinned into the kids and kept her lips tightly shut – if there was one thing Vriska was good at, it was being a tease. He growled and held onto her lower back, pushing her closer, if that was possible. Despite his attempts to deepen their lip-lock, Vriska pulled back. She giggled, "Damn, Karkles, didn't know you had that in you."

"Cut the cutesy, cagey bullshit and fucking kiss me."

She did just that. She did not expect their first kisses to be this fierce or after an argument – but, hey, she was getting some action. She had been craving for his lips to meet her own for soooooooo long. She'd take what she could get. 

Leaning up was really getting to be too much work, so she grabbed the collar of his shirt and pulled him down. There, she could work with that. She just barely parted her lips and he dived in. She stumbled back due to the intensity.

She fell back onto the bed with Karkat on top of her. He shuffled some so their faces were aligned again. They paused, panting slightly while meeting each others eyes. Then they reconnected. He supported himself with one arm planted next to her shoulder and his other hand trailed down her side before stopping on her hip. Vriska let out an involuntary moan into the kiss, which caused Karkat to laugh. She wanted to push him into the floor as revenge. Instead, she settled for hooking her leg around him and flipping them over so she was on top. She placed her hands on either side of his head and leaned back, hovering over him with a triumph smirk. He huffed and gave her the evil eye. She just snickered and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. Karkat leaned upwards to kiss her again, but she pushed him back down. She chided, "Ah ah ah. No more kisses for you until you answer my question."

"Fuck, Vriska, what is it?"

"What the hell are we? We were just making out yet we don't even know what we are to each other," she inquired, sitting back in his lap. She was aware she was now straddling his waist but couldn't bring herself to care. Karkat pushed himself up on his forearms to face her, "Goddamn, Vris. Okay, I want you to be my girlfriend – I know that for a fact. But have we known each other long enough to be a thing?"

"Stupid boy, it doesn't matter how long you've known the person. What matters is how you feel about them. I, uh, feel the same way about you, but if you don't think we've known each other long enough to be in a relationship, then let's go on one or two more dates. How does that sound?" She replied. She felt her cheeks heat up, and she was really hoping they weren't too red. Confessions had always been a little difficult for her. Karkat smiled, "Okay. Would you like to do something with me after school one day?"

"Weeeeeeeell, you are in luck! Tuesday, the sixteenth, is my birthday. How about we do something that day, something this weekend, and then possibly make whatever we are a thing?"

"Yeah, that works," he said. Vriska leaned forward and gently kissed him on the lips. She laughed, "No more, okay?"

"You are such a tease, Serket," he grumbled. She smirked, "You think that's teasing? Trust me, Vantas, I can do much worse."

"Oh really now?"

"What? Don't believe me?" She asked, tilting her head innocently. She carefully rolled her hips against him. Karkat let out a groan and tried to cover it up by cursing, "What the fuck do you think you are doing?"

Before Vriska could reply, the door to the bedroom opened up.

"Hey, Karkat, Eridan wanted me to tell you somet– oh, uh, did I walk in at a bad time?" Cronus said from the doorway. Vriska felt her cheeks tint pink, and Karkat's did the same. She watched as the boy beneath her slowly grinned. She knew he was plotting something. He pulled her down to him causing her to squeak quietly. He whispered into her ear, "Just go with it."

His teeth graze over her neck before he nibbles at the skin. She involuntarily let out a moan due to the foreign sensation. His hand found her lower back once again while he supported hmself on his other forearm and elbow. She felt him grin against her neck before removing his mouth, "Nah. You're fine. Just make whatever you have to say quick. I've got much better things in my hands than whatever Eridan feels I should know."

His teeth were attacking her neck once again. She knew what he was doing now. He was getting revenge on Cronus from earlier. She was fine with this – hell, she'd help him out with it. She tilted her head back, giving him better access to her neck, and she lightly swivelled her hips. She would not be unconvincing in this little charade.

"Eridan said for you to hurry up with-" Karkat bit down incredibly hard on her neck, causing Vriska to let out a little cry of pain, "-woah now. Calm down. He said to hurry up with somethin'. I don't even remember what it was, but you should know. I'm gonna leave you two alone now," Cronus said and the door shut. 

Vriska leaned back and pushed Karkat down onto the bed. She cursed, rubbing her neck, "What the fuck was that huge chomp for? I get it, you were asserting your dominance over him or whatever, but that fucking hurt."

"Can you not take a little pain, Serket?" 

"Shut up. I'm gonna have a hickey now. Thanks a lot," she grumbled. She rolled off of him and let out an exaggerated sigh. She landed on her phone and remembered she never checked her text from earlier. She pulled it out from behind her and pressed the home button. She had a message from Kanaya.

"Ill Cover You This Time But I Expect Answers Later"

"Gr8. I'll have Karkat drop me off at your place around 5. We can talk for a 8it then could you take me home at 7?"

She dropped her phone next to her and turned to face Karkat. He was staring up at the ceiling, chewing his lip in thought. She snuggled up against him and he wrapped his arm around her shoulders, pulling her closer to him. Curiosity got the best of her, so she asked, "What did Eridan want you to hurry up with?"

She felt him jerk slightly in shock. He complained, "Eridan is a dumbass. He probably meant to tell Sollux that instead of me because I don't know what the fuck he was talking about."

"Don't lie to me," she said harshly. She immediately shifted away from his embrace and sat up. Karkat replied, "What are you talking about? I'm not lying. Eridan is a fu-"

"Damn it, Karkat, just stop lying. I can tell when you are. Eridan may be a fool, but I am not. What's the bet or whatever it is about?"

"Vriska, goddamn. Okay, its kind of stupid, but the idiots I call friends we're betting on when I was going to get another girlfriend. Huge fucking blow to my self esteem. I didn't know about this until a few days ago when Gamzee accidentally told me. But apparently its been going on for a few months now. I guess Eridan is fixing to lose the bet. That's the only thing I could think for it to be."

Vriska didn't quite believe him, but she was going to let it slide for now. She wasn't going to forget about it though. She would bring it up later on if she ever needed to blackmail something out of him. She yawned, "Okay. Whatever. I'm still pretty tired. Can we take a nap?"

"Uh. I guess. Set an alarm so we don't sleep too long though," he hesitantly replied. He obviously didn't really want to, but she didn't give a fuck. She was incredibly tired. She quickly set an alarm for 5 o'clock and bundled up under the fluffy blankets. Karkat got up and cut off the lights. The room was oddly pitch black even though it was noon. She heard his clothing rustle before he slid into the bed next to her. She snuggled up against his chest which was now shirtless. It wasn't long until she fell asleep in his embrace.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I did not intend on a make out session this chapter but hey it happens. So much went on that I didn't plan for yet it turned out better than I expected.


	10. Of Birthdays and Dates

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's Vriska's birthday and Karkat has a surprise
> 
> Filled with fluff

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay I am incredibly sorry for the delayed update. I had writer's block there for awhile but her is like 5k+ of fluff.
> 
> Also, I still need help picking from Dave, John, and Cronus so if you could do so that would be wonderful so for there is  
> Dave: 1  
> John: 0  
> Cronus: 1

Karkat stared off into space during class. It was Tuesday, Vriska's birthday. She had pestered him that morning saying how she wouldn't be there. The day would be boring without her, but he would be spending the entire afternoon with her, so he could handle the Serket-less cold spell he was enduring. 

The previous day had been alright. They didn't do a whole lot besides chat during lunch and before school started. She told him she was spending time with Kanaya that day since Vriska was going to be busy with Karkat on her birthday instead of with her best friend. He understood – he was slowly getting over his jealousy of Maryam and begrudgingly starting to respect her.

Sunday, however, had been slightly hectic. Between screaming fits and make outs, it was an odd day. He had almost been caught due to Cronus, which was a big problem.

When Vriska fell asleep in his arms, he couldn't make himself go to sleep. His mind was running wild, and it was impossible to shut it down. The girl in his grasp nearly found out about his deal with Eridan and Gamzee – the deal that revolved around her heart. He knew that she didn't fully believe his tale, but what else could he have done? He didn't want to screw things up between them, yet things had been messed up from the start. The only reason she had even spoke to her was because he was planning on crushing her heart. If it wasn't for that, then he would have never gave her the time of day. 

But then he fell for her. He fell for her hard and all at once. 

Never did he intend on falling for Vriska Serket, but no one ever really plans on falling in love. He really didn't plan to have any strong emotions for her for that matter. She was like a tornado. She crashed through and forged her own path. Any and everything that close to her was sucked in and never would be the same when it came out. She was a force of nature. It was like she wanted everything to swirl together in a mess, with her being in the very center.

Karkat, however, was a bit different. He only allowed a few people in, only the ones he could really and truly trust. He liked to keep all his relationships separate. He liked to be neat and organized – not letting a pen or person out of place. When someone swerved out of their lane, he was sent on a tirade, pointing out all their flaws and everything they have ruined.

That trait was something he saw reflected in Vriska.

She would tell you how much better she was than you and how you would never even get close to being great as her. She would twist around your words to where what you said about her was put back on you.

Yet there was something that didn't add up with her actions. She quickly jabbed at her target, not sparing them a second to get a word in. She looked vicious while doing so, her whole demeanor radiated fierceness.

Karkat knew plenty about insecurity, doubt, and self-hate to tell that she did too.

He could tell in the way she snapped. Yes, she was sharp tongued and sharp-witted – insults came to her quick – but it seemed as if she cut them off as fast as possible so they could not get a hit in. He could tell in the way her eyes showed hurt for just a millisecond before flashing back to rage. He had to admit, Vriska was great at concealing her emotions, (It really deserved an award. The Striders were probably jealous of that kind of skill.) but he recognized those eyes. How could he not? He saw them every so often when he looked in the mirror.

He didn't know why she acted that way, hiding her insecurities and hating herself. Karkat vowed to himself that he would find out why and he would help her because he _cared_ about her that much. No one deserved to hate themselves that much – not as much as she did.

Karkat snapped out of his Vriska-induced trance since the teacher called his name. Grumbling to himself, he begrudgingly began to pay attention.

...

After his last class, he pestered the birthday girl.

carcinoGeneticist [CG] began pestering arachnidsGrip [AG] 

CG: HEY VRISKA. HAPPY BIRTHDAY AGAIN.  
AG: Thanks, Karkles.  
AG: Are you going to come over or am I going to your house or...?  
CG: WELL, IT'S YOUR BIRTHDAY.  
CG: YOU SHOULD HAVE THIS PLANNED  
CG: WHAT HAPPENED TO HAVING ALL THE IRONS IN THE FIRE? MISS SERKET, ARE YOU LOSING YOUR TOUCH?  
AG: Fuck you, Vantas.  
AG: I never said I didn't have irons in the fire.  
AG: May8e I wanted to see if you had some plans for the day.   
AG: Let you 8e the leader for once :::;)  
CG: CUT THE CUTESY, CAGEY BULLSHIT  
CG: WHAT DO YOU WANT TO DO TODAY?  
CG: YOUR BIRTHDAY, YOUR PICK  
AG: I see you have no dorky d8 plans.  
AG: Alright then. I guess I'll take the reins per usual.  
AG: So much for you 8eing a 8rave leader.  
AG: Mom didn't take off work for my 8irthday so I guess I should spend soooooooome time with her.  
AG: Ugh. Parents.  
AG: So just come over here for a few hours. We'll spend time with her for a 8it then we can do whatever.  
CG: OKAY. GLAD WE GOT THAT ESTABLISHED  
CG: I HAVE AN IDEA ON WHAT WE CAN DO AFTERWARDS  
AG: So you have a plan after all :::;)  
AG: Look at you putting irons in the fire.  
CG: I AM NOT AN IDIOT, SERKET.  
CG: NATURALLY I WOULD PLAN SOMETHING ON YOUR BIRTHDAY. YOU'RE THE STUPID ONE FOR THINKING I WOULDN'T HAVE AN IRON IN THE FIRE  
AG: Calm down, Karkat. 8reathe in, 8reathe out.   
AG: Sheesh, I was only joking.  
AG: Just head on over soon. I'm the only one home since Aranea is at college.  
AG: 8ut don't get your hopes up, 8oy. Just 8ecause my family isn't home doesn't mean we'll 8e doing anything :::;)  
CG: DO YOU REALLY THINK I'M LIKE THAT?  
AG: You're a guy.  
CG: VRISKA, I'M THE ONE WHO WANTED US TO GO ON A FEW MORE DATES BEFORE WE EVEN BECAME AN ITEM.  
CG: WHAT THE FUCK EVER.  
CG: SEE YOU SOON.  
AG: Alright then. See you l8r, 8rave leader.

arachnidsGrip [AG] ceased pestering carcinoGeneticist [CG]

Karkat fumed from her comment for a moment. She implied that he was going to do the nasty with her just because her parents weren't home. She was most likely just being a tease or meme trash, but it bothered him regardless. 

Grumbling, he dropped his phone into the cupholder and drove to Vriska's house. He had put her gift in his car that morning so he wouldn't have to waste time going by his house to get it.

It was not long until he was pulling into the Serket's driveway. He reached into the backseat and grabbed the horrendously wrapped box. He climbed out of his car, shutting the door with his foot.

The front door swung open as he approached it. Vriska grinned, "Glad to see you, Karkat."

Her eyes dropped to the box in his hands. Her smile grew, "Is that for meeeeeeee?"

"No, I just brought myself a gift. Yes, of course its for you," he retorted. She snatched the present out of his hands as he entered the home. The door slammed shut and he looked back at Vriska, who was vigorously shaking the box. Before he could scold her, she asked, "Can I open it?"

"Yeah. Go ahead," he replied. She cheered and hopped over the back of the couch. She was a such a child – it was cute. He walked around the couch, like a proper person should, and plopped down next to her. Karkat pulled his phone out of his pocket and began to record – this would be interesting. She tore the wrapping paper to shreads and was left with a duct taped box. She looked over at him, "You did not wrap this box in duct tape."

"I believe I did."

"I'm going to kill you. Can I use a knife or something?"

"Nope."

"Fuck you. Wait, are you recording this?" 

"Damn right I am."

"Stop right now. Turn it off."

"Make me."

"Fine then I will!" She said, reaching for his phone. He leaned out of her reach and she abandoned the box in favor of getting him to quit recording. Vriska crawled into his lap in order to reach his phone better, he was holding it slightly over the arm rest, which was behind him. He pushed on her shoulder as an attempt to get her off of him. He shoved her with more force than intended and ended up knocking her into the floor. She let out a squeak of surprise and grabbed onto his shirt, pulling him down with her. 

He landed on top of her, hands planted a few inches above her head to catch himself. His phone was underneath one of his hands. Vriska laid beneath him with a grin on her face. She hooked her ankle around his. He stared at her confusedly until she thrust her hips upwards and used her other foot to flip them around. In the process, she snagged his phone right out of his hand. Karkat grunted in annoyance while Vriska smirked defiantly. She stopped the recording and slid his phone into her back pocket. She taunted, "You're not getting that back until I open my gift."

"Then why don't you go ahead and open it instead of waiting around like a useless dumbfuck."

"Shut the hell up," she retorted, getting up from his lap. She grabbed the box from the couch and sat back down next to him.

She grumbled angrily and flipped the present around a few times, trying to find where one piece of tape ends. She found an ending and began to rip it off. She stuck the tape onto his leg just for him to pull it off and stick it on her. She repeated the process multiple times with angry little huffs in between each one. She finally managed to uncover the box and opened it with glee.

Inside was another box. Like the first one, it was completely duct taped. She let out an exaggerated groan, "Kaaaaaaaarkaaaaaaaat, why?"

He just laughed in response. She pouted, "Fuck this, I'm getting a knife."

She stood to get the kitchen utensils and Karkat grabbed her ankle, "No you don't!"

"Watch me, Vantas!" She shook her foot out of his weak grasp and bolted towards the kitchen. He scrambled to his feet and chased after her. He grabbed the back of her shirt causing her to stumble. He wrapped his arms around her waist before she could weasel out of his grasp. He lifted her up and she let out a very high pitched squeak. Vriska protested while kicking her legs, "Karkat! Put me down right now! I am the birthday girl, do as I say!"

"No can do, Serket. If you would open your present like a normal person, we wouldn't be having this problem."

"No. If you had wrapped the gift like a normal person, then we wouldn't be having this problem!"

"I did wrap it like a norm–"

"Normal people don't wrap gifts in duct tape!!!!!!!!"

"Shoosh. Now, if I let you go, will you try to get a knife again?"

"Why wouldn't I?"

"Then I guess you're opening it while in my lap," he replied. He sat down on the couch with his arms still wrapped around her midsection. She commented, "Karkat dear, how the hell am I supposed to open it if it's not in my hands?"

"It's right next to your feet. Just pick it up, or do I have to do all the work for you? Get your lazy ass in gear."

She let out a great sigh, picked up the box, and started to rip through the duct tape. The downside to having her in his lap was he couldn't fully see her face – but he could get over that. He pressed his chest against her back and tucked her shoulder under his chin. She laughed evilly as she tore off the last strip of tape. She tapped on his hands, "You can let me go now. All the tape is off."

He hesitantly removed his hands and leaned back, and she rolled over onto the seat next to him. She ripped open the box, and Karkat couldn't help but smile at her reaction. A big grin grew on her face and her cheeks flushed. Her eyes widened as she grabbed the objects out of the box.

"You got me Nic Cage movies! How did you know I love Nic Cage?" She squealed. Karkat laughed; she was such a child. 

"Porrim Maryam is one of Kankri's friends. She was over at our house yesterday and luckily was able to tell me some things you liked, being your best friend's older sister after all.

"For once the meddling Maryams did something good," she replied, no venom in her voice, "We have to watch them together one day. Hell, today even."

"Not today, Serket. I've already have things lined up and you know that."

"A girl can dream, can't she?" She said, pulling his phone out of her back pocket. She pressed the home button to check the time. "Well, it just now four. Mom won't here until five. What should we do for an hour?"

He shrugged, "It's your choice. Once we do whatever with her, I'll take charge. But until then, it's up to you."

She smirked deviously and pulled Con-Air out from the box of movies, "We could watch thiiiiiiiiss."

"Oh hell no. You are not making me watch those right now," Karkat said with an exaggerated groan. He went to swipe the movie out of her hands, but she held it back. She continued, "Buuuuuuuut you said it was up to ME what we did. Are you not a man of your word, brave leader?"

"Why the fuck do you keep calling me that? What am I supposed to be the leader of? The fruity rumpus asshole factory? Your nickname doesn't even make sense," he retorted. Vriska sighed and got up from the couch with the movie in hand. She slid the disc into the disc tray on the DVD player. The tray went back in and the warnings started to play on the Serket's TV. She replied, "Okay then, I guess I'll watch it while you mope. I guess you aren't a brave leader since you don't lead."

The previews began to play and Vriska disappeared up the stairs. Karkat didn't bother getting up. She would be back. He heard her footsteps and then a blanket was thrown over his face. He pawed the blanket off of himself and she smiled, "Can't watch a movie with a blanket – or popcorn. Come help make some."

"As you wish, princess," he retorted sarcastically. She happily lead him into the kitchen. He followed her and she immediately got two packages of popcorn out of a cabinet. She ordered, "Get out a bowl."

"I would if I knew where they were at," he retorted. She rolled her eyes and put a package in the microwave. "Bottom cabinet, next to the sink."

Karkat looked where she pointed out and pulled out a bowl. He looked over and saw her watching the popcorn pop. She wasn't a spiderbitch – she was a spiderchild. When the microwave went off, she took out the enlarged bag, opened it up, and poured the popcorn into the bowl. He was already opening up the next bag and putting it in the microwave. Vriska poured a generous amount of salt onto the bowl and shook the bowl to spread it around. She grinned, "The saltier the better."

"Your kidneys are gonna dry up," he stated. She chuckled at his comment and retrieved two glasses from another cabinet. She poured them their respective drinks and Karkat emptied the fresh popcorn bag into the bowl. He salted it, per her request, and grabbed the bowl. She carried their drinks and he carried the bowl. She set their drinks down on the table and he did the same with the snack. 

Karkat sat down on the couch while she retrieved the remote and started the movie. Vriska also cut off the lights. Next thing he knew, he was being shoved against the armrest, "Vriska! What the hell?!"

"Shoosh, we're cuddling," she replied, and he could just barely see her cheeks flush in the dim lightening. She settled herself against him; he was laying on his back, supported by the armrest and she layed side ways in his lap. She threw the blanket over them and nuzzled into his chest. He laughed lightly, "Just pass me the popcorn, you dork."

"I am not a dork," she replied but grabbed the popcorn and handed it to him anyways. He placed it in front of her on the spacious couch and grabbed a few pieces. 

They cuddled on the couch for around an hour, Vriska's eyes widening when Nic Cage appeared on screen doing some heroic thing and Karkat laughed at her for it. 

Before Vriska's favorite scene, the scene where Nic Cage reunites with his wife, Liv Tyler, and daughter, Casey, a light was emitted from the doorway. Vriska was too enthralled with the movie to see who it was, but Karkat looked over. It was Arachne Serket, which wasn't much of a surprise. He tapped on her shoulder, "Vriska, your mom is here." 

She turned around to look and mumbled, "Oh, hey mom."

"Hello, dear. What are you two watching?" Mrs. Serket said, cutting the lighte on and setting her purse down on the counter. She waltzed over and sat on the couch adjacent to them. Vriska answered, dropping her head back onto his chest, "ConAir. Karkat got me a bunch of Nic Cage movies for my birthday."

"Uh, Vris, we probably should sit up," he whispered. She looked up at him, pouting. When his stare did not break, she groaned and sat up, shuffling out of his grasp. He pushed himself upright and folded his hands in his lap. He felt oddly nervous in front of her mother. Vriska grabbed the remote off the coffee table and paused the movie. 

"Happy birthday, Vriska," Arachne smiled. Her face fell and she sighed dramatically, "Unfortunately, your gift has not arrived yet. It should be here tomorrow though."

"That's alright. It better be worth the wait though," Vriska said coyly. He could really see the semblance between the two Serkets when they were together. They both had the same aggravated tone masking their actual concern and care. Her mother answered, "Karkat, what did you get Vriska?"

The question seemed innocent, but he just knew there were some devious intentions lying beneath the surface. He said, "Like she said earlier, I got her a few Nicolas Cage movies – and I have a surprise for her later."

"I see," her mom said thoughtfully, as if she was judging the truthfulness of his answer. He felt slightly nervous under her piercing glare; he was beginning to see why Vriska called her Spidermom. Arachne nodded at his response.

"He got me ConAir and National Treasure and ConAir. Do you know how much I love ConAir, mom? Do yoooooooou?" Vriska said cheerfully – he was glad he was able to make her so gleeful. Mrs. Serket rolled her eyes, "Vriska, everyone knows how much you love ConAir."

The younger Serket huffed and crossed her arms, clearly not very pleaser with her mom's words. Arachne glanced between the two teens before inquiring, "So what exactly is this surprise?"

Karkat had to resist the urge to go on a tirade on how he couldn't tell her that because then it wouldn't be a surprise and how only noisy, cock sucking mothers who must have shit for brains and the only real motive they have is to try and ruin their daughter's love life but they fail miserably and look like a fool which must be why Vriska never talks about her dad because Arachne fucking scared him of– he derailed his own train of thought because he was getting carried away. He swallowed down his unearthly rage and answered, "Sorry. Can't tell you or it wouldn't be a surprise."

"Sheesh, mom. Did you not expect that answer? Come on now. I thought you were smarter than that," Vriska scoffed, lazily propping her head on his shoulder. Arachne waved her hand, dismissing them, "Well, go ahead and go do whatever you have planned. Be back at a decent hour, Vriska. It's a school night and you are lucky I met you miss today – education is important."

"Ma'am, yes, ma'am," Vriska muttered, taking Karkat's hand, "Let's go! I want to know what your surprise is."

He let her drag him out of the household and said a quick goodbye to her caretaker. In no time, they were both in the car and driving down the road. Vriska stated, "Kaaaaaaaaraaaaaaat."

"Serket."

"Where are we going?"

"We've been over this. It's a surprise."

He didn't have to look over to know she was pouting. He focused on the road and resisted the urge to look at her adorable puppy dog face. He could already see it without looking over – bottom lip extended, blue eyes widened, showing off how her left eye was lighter than the right, and eyebrows furrowed. He couldn't help but chuckle. She scoffed, "Don't laugh at me."

"I wasn't."

"Yes you were."

"How do you know this?"

"I am greaaaaaaaat at reading people. I'm practically an empath."

"Sure you are. And I'm actually a synth trying to fit in among humans."

"I basically am. Aranea is one."

"Your whole family is scary, you know that?"

"It's our best quality," Vriska said, pride evident in her voice. He glanced over at her to see her smirking while gazing out the window. She inquired, "Karkat?"

"Yes, Vriska?"

"Why are we driving out of town?"

"We're going somewhere out of town. Geez, I figured that was obvious."

"If you plan on taking me out to a field and killing me, then I can tell you right now that you will not succeed."

"Because I definitely plan on taking a girl on a date to a cornfield and slaughtering her. A girl who I have romantic feelings for and would enjoy making out with. Great job, Serket, you've figured me out. The only reason I talked to you is because I wanted to kill you."

If only she knew he actually was going to kill her – emotional. Thing is, it would kill him too.

"Oh what did you say? I zoned out during your shitfit."

Karkat let out a great sigh and continued to drive down the road. The road was very bumpy and covered in potholes. It did not go unnoticed by Vriska. She groaned, "Oh my god, Karkat. You could do a better job avoiding all these potholes."

"There's one like every meter. Its impossible to avoid them all."

"I bet I could."

"Vriska, I am not letting you drive."

"Whaaaaaaaat. Do you not trust me?"

"You don't even know where we are going."

"If you would tell me, then we would be having this problem."

"If you would shut up, we may get there faster."

"You're mean, Karkles," she pouted, crossing her arms. He sighed; if she didn't get over it by the time they got there, then he would apologize. 

She cut the radio on, and after shuffling through the stations, she quietly sang along to a song. Karkat could listen to her voice all day, but he especially loved it when she sang. Her voice was so melodious and even though it had a slight accent to it, – it was pretty minor but was noticeable when listening intently. Russian maybe? – it was beautiful nonetheless. And Vriska didn't know how beautiful it was. He wanted to capture her voice in a hard, place it on his nightstand, and listen to it every night befote he went to bed.

But why do that when he could listen to her in person every night?

"Vriska," he interrupted, "You have a really good singing voice."

He could practically hear the smirk in her voice, "Thanks, kk. My voice is good at anytime, not just when I'm singing."

He wanted to agree with her. Instead he just laughed and turned into a parking lot. The girl next to him gasped, "Karkat, you took me to a carnival?"

"Damn right," he sneered, cutting off the vehicle and climbing out. Vriska got out as well and grabbed onto his arm. He smiled to himself as Vriska looked around in amazement. The sun had already begun to set, so the carnival was lit up in bright, neon lights. He hid his grin as the giddy girl clung to his arm. He pulled his wallet out of his back pocket as they approached the ticket booth. She drawled, "Are you buying my tickets for me? How gentlemenly!"

"Like hell I'm buying tickets. We're getting wristbands."

"Wristbands? I mean, wristbands! Of course we are getting those! Why wouldn't we," Vriska said, grip faltering on his arm. He pretended to not notice her confusion just this once – it was her birthday after all.

The stepped up to the booth and Karkat paid for two wristbands. The worker gestured for Vriska slip her arm in the window so they could put the slip of paper around her arm. She looked hesitant, but she did so anyways. After she had her band, Karkat got his own, and they wandered around the carnival grounds. She looked around in excitement at all of the rides and games. He cleared his throat, "What do you want to ride first?"

She looked around before excitedly yelling, "That one!"

It was a spider looking ride. The bottom of the spiders legs had little seats, big enough to fit two people. The let's moved up and down while the entire machine spun in circles. He was not surprised Vriska picked the Spider.

He lead her over to the ride and after standing in line for a minute or two, the carnie ushered them into the seat. They sat in the ride and the carnie snapped the safety bar in place. Vriska snaked her hand into his and latched the other onto the bar. They soon we're spun around so the worker could load more people onto the ride. She propped her head up on his shoulder, nuzzling into it slightly. Karkat said, "Hey, Vris."

She looked up at him in response.

"You've never been to a carnival before, have you?"

He expected some ego boosting tirade about how she's been to every carnival known to man. Instead, she sighed and looked down at the metal bar. She mumbled, "Is it that obvious?"

Before he could reply, the ride whirled to life and she was grinning once more. He squeezed her hand as a weak attempt of a reply and she nuzzled into his shoulder once again. He wouldn't kill her vibe and pester her about it; not until later. 

After the ride came to a stop and the carnie let them off, Vriska stumbled slightly from being dizzy. Karkat contained his laughter and steadied her. She wasted no time dragging him to ride after ride. Before long, they had nearly been on every machine and the sky was dark, neon lights flashing around the carnival. She perked up when she saw a game booth. She tugged him towards it, "Karkat, win me something."

It was one of those games where you had to knock over three bottles with a tennis ball, and you had three tries. He knew the game was jaded, the top bottle weighed more than the two on bottom, making it hard to knock off. But despite this knowledge, he was going to try and win something for her anyways. Besides, he was with the girl with "allllllll the luck." Maybe some of her luck would be shared with him.

He payed the carnival worker and received three balls. He launched the first one and it only knocked over the top bottle. Vriska giggled, "Come on. You can do better than that, Karkaaaaaaaat."

He bit back a snide remark and waited for the carnie to reassemble the jars. Once they were lined up, he aimed and threw the ball. He managed to knock down all the bottles and Vriska cheered. She picked out a big, fluffy, blue spider plush and held it to her chest. She pressed a gentle kiss to his cheek and smiled, "Thank you, Vantas."

He felt heat rise to his cheeks and hoped it wasn't noticeable. He glanced at his watch; it was already eight thirty. They would have to leave soon in order to not anger her mother. He looker around the carnival and spotted the ferris wheel. He smirked and took her hand, "My turn to pick a ride."

She said nothing as he lead her to the tall ride. The line was fairly short so in no time they were seated. Vriska held onto his arm as they were slowly turned to the top of the ride. They sat together in companionable silence, looking over the treetops that eventually thinned out to reveal the city. Once they had been around a few times and were approaching the top again, Karkat murmured, "Vris.."

As she turned to face him, he caught her lips in a kiss. Unlike their previous ones, this one was chaste. There was no flurry of teeth and tongue, nor calculated movements. Just a gentle kiss they had both been yearning for.

They broke apart, sheepishly smiling at each other. Soon after, the ride whirled to a stop. They exited the carnival and got into his car. Vriska needed to be home soon. She cradled her spider plush in the passenger side as he drove down the dirt road.

By the time he turned onto the bumpy main road, Vriska had fallen asleep. Karkat was okay with this; he would just avoid the potholes so she'd sleep fine. He silently cursed the government for not using taxes to fill holes with more cement. Regardless of his anger towards the government, he missed all the holes so his girl would sleep fine.

...

"Vriska, wake up."

No response.

"Vriiiiska."

No response – he was not dealing with this. Karkat tugged on a lock of her hair. She grumbled and held the stuffed animal tighter. Signing, he leaned over and kissed her cheek, "Vriska, babe, if you don't wake up, I'm gonna tickle you."

She stirred in her seat, sleepily blinking her eyes at him. She slurred, "Kiss me again and I'll consider waking up."

"You're the one who said no more kisses until we are actually dating, and here you are begging for one. Isn't that ironic?

"Maybe it's a sign you should ask me out."

"I didn't want to ask you out on your birthday. What if something happened and we broke up? Then your forever remember your birthday as the day the one got away."

"Karkat, just shut the fuck up and kiss me again."

He did as asked. He quickly pecked her on the lips and clearly broke away too soon to Vriska's liking; she glared at him and did a "come hither" motion with her fingers. He crossed his arms, "Vriska your mom is waiting inside. I get it. I'm irresistible. But really, you need to go before spidermom banishes me or something."

"Fiiiiiiiine, she drawled, "but walk me to the door."

"I planned on it," he muttered as they both got out of the vehicle. He walked her to the good and said, "Goodni–"

She cut him off by grabbing him by the collar and kissing him, the doll he won her smashed between them. It lasted much longer than the one he gave her in the car. Once they broke apart, she retorted, "Now that's a _real_ kiss. Goodnight, Karkat, and thanks for the greaaaaaaaat night."

He mumbled a reply and watched as she entered her home. 

He decided he didn't just like her; no, he was addicted to her. And, god, he never wanted to let her go.


	11. Of Past and Present Romances

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Emotions are a complicated thing but Vriska thinks she's figuring them out

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, it's been nearly two months since I've updated. I'm so sorry it has taken this long. I had over half this chapter written in a notebook, but then I lost it. So that put me back a few weeks when trying to remember the intricate metaphors I created.
> 
> Thank you all for your love and support ❤ If I hadn't have received so much support, I would have abandoned this long ago. I cannot thank you all enough ~

_Its better to burn than to fade away_  
Vriska groggily opened her eyes and quickly shielded them from the morning light. _Its better to leave than to be replaced_ Oh, her phone was ringing. She rubbed her eyes sleepily and grabbed her phone off her nightstand. Karkat was calling her. _I'm losing to you, baby I'm no match_ She silenced Brendan Urie's voice and answered, "What do you want?"

"Good morning to you too. I take it you aren't a morning person. It's like eleven, Vris. Get your shit together," Karkat chided. She rolled her eyes even though he couldn't see her. She yawned, "I wasn't expecting to be rudely awakened. Thanks a lot, Kk. Just so you know, my preferred time to wake up is never. Now, what did you want?"

"Did you forget already? We're going out today. I just figured I'd wake your lazy ass up," Karkat replied. Vriska put her glasses on, fixing her only slightly blurry vision. She sat up straight and swung her feet onto the ground, the cold ground sending shivers up her body. "Yeah, yeah. I know. Making sure yoooooooou remembered. You have any plans?"

She tiptoed across the cold, wooden floors and left her room. The house was quite chilly, but she didn't bother bundling up in clothing. 

"Of course I do, Serket."

Aranea was in the living room, reading a book on the couch. Vriska entered the room and plopped down across from her sibling. She continued, "Are you going to tell me these plans?"

She felt Aranea's eyes scan her. She predicted her words before they even fell from her mouth. Aranea stated, per usual, "Vriska, please go put some pants on."

She said it loud enough for the boy on the other line to hear. He said, "Vriska, are you not wearing pants? Go put some on. And no, I'm not going to tell you."

"Home is where the pants aren't," Vriska snickered, cutting her eyes towards her elder sister, "You don't have to tell me then, Shouty. I'll figure it out on my own."

She watched as Aranea shut her book and shifted on the couch. She interrupted, "You cannot go on an ego boosting tirade when you aren't wearing pants."

"I'm too good for pants. Pants can't contain me," She sneeed back. Karkat groaned, "Who are you even talking to?"

"Aranea," Vriska said casually. The girl in question quirked a brow, and her sibling waved a hand, dismissing it. Karkat sighed, "Whatever. Can you be ready by one?"

"Of course."

"Okay then. I'll be there at one. Don't even think about bothering me about what we are going to do," Karkat retorted. Vriska stretched out across the couch, "Blah blah blah. Your date ideas are soooooooo cliché. Do I need to dress nice or what? Do I have to wear pants?"

"What is with you and not wearing pants? You don't have to dress formal, but I'd prefer you wearing pan– wait a minute. When you were at my house, you were blushing and screeching like a damn pterodactyl when your pants were off. What happened between now and then?"

"I've always liked not wearing them. I just like to be the one to take them off and know where they are at. I also prefer it when annoying shouty boys don't burst into the room unannounced."

"Kankri is a fuckass, we've been over this like eight times now. And you were the one to kick them off in your sleep."

"Whaaaaaaaatever you say, Vantas. I need to start getting ready unless you wanna push the date back to one thirty or two."

"Alright alright. Sheesh. I'll talk to you later."

"Yup. See you later, looooooooser," Vriska concluded and ended the call. She felt Aranea's piercing gaze on her. She met her stare and the elder one sighed, "Who were you talking to? I heard you say 'Vantas'. How do you know them?"

"Karkat. He's your friend, Kankri's, little brother, which you probably knew that."

"I did. I take it you two are going on a little date."

"No. We are going to never see each other again. He just wanted to dictate my choice in clothing and make sure I was ready by a specific time just because."

"Aren't you as sassy as ever. How do you think Meenah is going to feel about this?"

Vriska visibly flinched. She didn't care that Aranea saw. She knew everything about her. She knew that was a sore topic. She could literally feel Vriska's pain – she was an empath after all. Vriska hunched up in a ball, "Fuck Meenah. She doesn't have the right to get mad at me for hanging out with Karkles."

"You know as well as I do that Meenah doesn't care if she has the right to or not. She does what she wants to."

"Which is probably another reason why we didn't work out, because I do what I want too. It's not like she talks to me anymore anyways."

"You're the one who cut her off."

"Yeah. Because she cut what we had off."

"Well, she still talks to me."

"Your point is?"

"She'll be here in a few minutes."

"What?!" Vriska screeched, jolting upright in her spot, "Why didn't you tell me this earlier?!"

"Didn't think you had the right to get upset over that."

"I am entitled to my feelings, and I'm also entitled to do what I want!"

"You sound like Meenah now."

The front door opened up and Meenah Peixes waltzed in. She said casually, "'Sup Serkets."

"Hello Meenah," Aranea greeted, not moving from her spot on the couch, "The door was locked. How'd you get in?"

"I picked it. You girls were too busy shouting and talking too much to hear me," Meenah announced, shutting the door. Vriska froze in her spot as she sauntered over to the recliner. She looked Vris up and down and snickered, "Nice panties."

"Thanks," she mumbled back. Her heart felt heavy in her chest. She was over Meenah – she had Karkat now – but the feelings still weighed her down. The breakup was not pleasant, and, at the time, Meenah seemed hurt as well. However, now she was back to normal.

Vriska wasn't.

Meenah relaxed on the recliner. She looked between the two Serkets before resting her gaze on Vriska. She didn't allow herself to tense up under her stare; that would be considered weakness. Meenah didn't stay because Vriska was too weak. Meenah stated, "What are you gonna do today? You gon' stay with Aranea and me? We can tear some shit up together."

"Actually, she has a date," Aranea answered for her – probably to prevent her sister from making a snide remark. Meenah raised a pierced eyebrow. She leaned over the arm of the chair and smirked, "Oh really now? Who is the lucky chump who has the pleasure of being with you, Twerket?"

Vriska leaned back against the back of the couch and crossed her arms. She huffed, "It is none of your business, Meenah."

"Oh! You're getting defensive! How cute. How is it possible for someone to be so badass and so adorable all at once?" Meenah commented, moving over to the couch. Vriska puffed out her cheeks as Meenah sat next to her. She retorted, "I'm not getting defensive – I don't get defensive. It doesn't matter to you who I'm with since they are probably too boring to you anyways."

Meenah's face twisted up at her remark. Was that hurt written on her face? Vriska didn't have time to analyze the expression since it changed into a smirk.

"You are too being defensive. Here's the fight in you that I love. So are you just gonna wear that? I bet they'll loooooooove that," Meenah snickered, pulling on the waistband of Vriska's panties. She smacked her hand away, and Meenah's devious giggles became an outright laugh. The younger girl stood up and pushed her away. She chided, "Can it, Meenah. I need to get ready for my daaaaaaaate, m'kay? Have fun with my sibling."

She sauntered off, a grin playing on her lips. Meenah was probably ogling her lower half right then – she often complimented it when they were dating. As she entered her bathroom, she heard Aranea nag their house guest on her flirtations and manners.

Vriska set her phone on the counter, music emitting from its speaker. She set her glasses down next to it. She shed her few garments and stepped into the shower. She turned the water on, hissing as the sudden spray of cold water spilled onto her. The water soon warmed up, steam rising into the air. She relaxed and let the comforting waves pool over her – steaming hot showers always helped her think.

There were multiple thoughts and questions on her mind, but, as usual, one stood out more than the other: Karkat Vantas. She was certain he was going to ask her out today, and of course she was excited. Yet she had a constant nagging feeling tugging on her mind – why did he bother her in the first place?

They had gone to school together since kindergarten but never interacted much. They bickered in a few classes when their opinions differed, and before certain events occurred, they occasionally were around Terezi at the same time. One of them would usually leave before much socializing could happen. Overall, they had never really mingled.

It was possible that he just found her quite attractive and never had the nerve to make a move until now. She grinned to herself at the thought as the water drenched her hair. Vriska knew she was hot – it was the only attribute she had that she was completely and truly proud of. However, Karkat didn't seem like the kind of person to completely judge someone off their appearance. Then again, it was true that appearance makes up a majority of someone's attraction towards another upon first meeting. Regardless, something wasn't adding up. 

She sighed and shampooed her hair, lathering the dark locks in suds. She ran her hands through them as she rinsed the lather out, smiling to herself. Karkat always liked to play with her hair. He once told her it felt like spider silk, and she nearly passed out from laughing so hard. He hates it when she brings it up, so she did as much as possible.

More questionable thoughts consumed her mind, overpowering the pleasant memory. What was up with Meenah? Vriska did her best to lose all contact with her since their parting, but that had been difficult due to Aranea being friends with her. But now Meenah was teasing her like she used to and calling her badass again? She had broke up with because she was too weak, too boring and too happy. She wasn't badass anymore. She had become soft. She wasn't what Meenah wanted. What had happened between then and now?

Vriska shook her head, trying to clear her thoughts. She rinsed the conditioner from her hair and the soap from her body, then cut off the water. Goosebumps spiked at her skin and sent tingles through out her body. She grabbed the towel and wrapped up in its warm embrace. She checked the time on her phone and stopped the music. It was twelve o'clock – she had an hour to get her shit together. 

She exited the bathroom, wrapped up in her towel with her wet locks spilling down her back. She heard Aranea rambling to Meenah downstairs and ignored them. She entered her room to get dressed. Vriska lazily shuffled through through the clothing hanging in her closet. She pondered on what to wear when a crash from downstairs and a screech of "MEENAH! DON'T YOU DARE!" interrupted her thoughts. Before she could investigate, her bedroom door swung open, and Meenah entered. She quickly slammed and locked the door while Vriska clutched her towel tighter. She yelped, "Meenah!? What the fuck!?"

"Relax, Serket the sequel," Meenah cooed. She flopped onto the unmade bed, folding her arms behind her head. She continued, "I wanted to catch up with ya. Its been awhile."

"Could you have at least waited until I was fully dressed?" Vriska asked irritatedly. She tucked the towel into itself so it would stay together as she placed her hands on her hips. It was hard to be menacing in a towel, but Vriska was pretty sure she pulled it off well.

Meenah laughed and looked the younger girl up and down. She said with a wink, "You don't have anything I haven't seen or wouldn't want to see."

Vriska crossed her arms and huffed, "First off, just because you've seen the female anatomy doesn't mean you've seen _mine_. Secondly, why'd you dump me if you're gonna hit on me now?"

She went to her dresser and pulled out her undergarments. Meenah continued, "You're hot, what can I say? If you just drop the towel, then I'll see your anatomy and you won't have to worry about it."

Vriska flushed and readjusted the towel. She wasn't too sure on how to reply. She could just say some snide remark – or she could drop the towel. The second one seemed like the more "Vriska" thing to do. It was the wilder choice. The bolder choice. The less boring choice. Before she could do the Vriska-like action, Aranea beat on the door. She shouted, "Meenah Peixes! Quit bothering Vriska!"

The door knob jiggled.

"Unlock this door right now!"

Meenah groaned and sat up on the bed. She glowered at Vriska, fuchsia eyes burning holes into her, "Don't say anything or unlock that door... Aranea! How do you know I'm bothering her when you can't get in!"

The older girl stood up from the bed as Aranea grumbled some choice words at her. She bickered with her for a moment, and Vriska took advantage of the situation. While Meenah was distracted, she slipped her underwear on beneath the towel. She turned her back to Meenah and dropped the towel. She clasped her bra on. She cheered silently to herself. Meenah: 0 Vriska: 1 She returned her focus to her closet and shuffled through her clothes. She heard Aranea yell significantly loud, "Oh fuck it!" and hear her stomps echo down the stairs.

"Aww man, I missed the best part of the show," Meenah complained, leaning against the door. Vriska stuck her tongue out at her, and she sighed, "You always were sly as a fox. That much hasn't changed – but your bra size for sure has."

Vriska flushed – Meenah was always so blunt – and continued to examine the clothes hanging up. She mumbled, "My bra size is none of your business."

"What was that, Twerket?"

"Nothing. Now answer my question. Why'd you dump me to hit on me now?"

"Argh, don't be like that," Meenah groaned. Vriska turned to face her and put her hands on hips. She replied, "Sorry, no can do. For the eight millionth time, why did you dump me just to flirt with me now?"

Meenah walked towards the younger girl and propped herself up against the wall. She heaved a great sigh and answered, "You know as well as I do why I dumped ya. I mean, we yelled at each other for a solid two hours over it."

Vriska knew why she left. Meenah left because Vriska was weak. She left because she had become soft. She left because Vriska loved her too much. She left because she was too young, because dating a girl three years younger than her was weird. 

Vriska pursed her lips and returned her focus to her closet. She didn't need Meenah's shit right then. She was going to have a good time with her _date_ and not give a shit on what Meenah thought because she didn't need her anymore. She pulled out a random shirt – she planned on stealing and wearing Karkat's hoodie anyways – and set it on her bed. Meenah groaned and tugged on a lock of Vriska's hair. She directed her attention back to her ex and glowered at her. The older girl said, "Now don't ignore me now, Vris. I'm here now, aren't I?"

"Not my choice. Aranea invited you, not me, so why don't you go bother her downstairs?" Vriska chided, pulling her hair free from her grip. 

Meenah let out an exaggerated groan, facepalming. She retorted, "Fuck, Vriska. I'm trying to make things right again but you're being complicated. I'm sorry, okay? It was weird for a nineteen year old to date a sixteen year old. But hey now you're eighteen, and I'm twenty, twenty one in a few months. Now you're legal, and I can't be filed as a pedophile."

"So you only broke up with me because of my age? Bullshit. Bull. Shit. It wouldn't have mattered, if you truly cared. Besides you told me it was for multiple things when you did it," Vriska snarled back, resisting the urge to raise her voice. She wanted to soooooooo badly, but then Aranea would butt in. She didn't want that. The rage burning in her eyes should've been all the context Meenah needed to know she was pissed and her heart was ablaze.

"Okay, okay. I was afraid you were getting soft on me. I didn't want you to fall even harder when I knew it wasn't gonna work out, at the time. I tried to spare your feelings, but I guess I was too late–"

"–that kind of happens when you tell someone you love them–"

"Uh, yeah. Well, I did love you. Never really stopped honestly. Fuck, this is getting way mushier then I wanted. And you're being a little spitefire and I wanna kiss you and make you shut up when you run that godawful mouth of yours," Meenah rambled, the faintest hints of pink dusting her cheeks. Vriska opened her mouth, closed it, and opened it again. She wasn't too sure on what to say. She shook her head and placed a hand on Meenah's shoulder, "Look, Meenah, we'll talk about this later. I have a date I need to be getting ready for and this really isn't the time to discuss our relationship."

"But you'll talk with me about it later, right?" Meenah asked, hope evident in her voice as she grinned. Vriska dropped her arm and sighed, "Yeah yeah, whatever. As Aranea would probably say, we need some overdue closure."

Meenah cheered while Vriska turned to get dressed – she had been standing half naked infront of Meenah for too long. She threw the T-shirt on along with some dark jeans she randomly grabbed from her dresser. Meenah exited her room, and Vriska trailed after her, going into the bathroom while the former girl sent downstairs. She heard Aranea begin rambling to Meenah about what happened and how that was not right of her. Vriska just rolled her eyes and started to try and tame her mane of hair.

After a slight struggle, she had successfully combed it out and dried it. Next was makeup. She carefully applied her usual makeup and winked at herself when she was finished. She made sure her winged eyeliner was sharp enough to kill and her lipstick did not smear; she was quite confident Karkat was going to ask her out and she wanted to look great when he did.

She checked the time on her phone. It was twelve fifty. Karkat would be there any moment. She grabbed her shoes and socks and hurried down the stairs. The two elder girls were not there, and Vriska sighed in relief. She might be able to leave in time without them pestering Karkat. As she tied her shoes, the doorbell rang and Aranea strolled in with Meenah following. Aranea said nonchalantly, "I'll get it," as she opened the door. 

Fuck.

"Hi, you must be Karkat. I'm Aranea, Vriska's elder sister. Please, come in," she announced, opening the door wider so Karkat could enter. The slightly lanky boy strolled in, hands shoved in his pockets. Vriska quickly stood, wanting to exit as soon as possible. Meenah laughed loudly, holding onto the back of the couch for support, "Oh my glub. Really, Vris? Karkat Vantas is your date? Well, I must say he's adorabubble."

"Damnit, I thought you finally quit using those stupid fish puns. Can it, Meen," Vriska chided and walked towards her boyf– date. Titles had not been established yet. She needed to reign herself in. She interlocked his fingers with her own and pulled him down a little bit. On her tiptoes, she gave a quick peck on his cheek. She smiled happily, and Karkat chuckled and ruffled her hair, "What's flirty fish face doing here?"

Vriska batted his hand away and smoothed out her hair. Meenah stomped her foot in irritation and snarled, "Hey! I heard that! I just so happen to be your gilfrond's ex."

"I'm assuming you mean girlfriend's instead of gilfrond. Sometimes its hard to decipher your words with all the shitty fish puns added in there. If you're her ex, then why the hell are you here?" Karkat said, voice laced with aggravation. He protectively wrapped an arm around Vriska. She raised a brow at his action but did not complain. She enjoyed the feeling of being wanted, however, it appeared that he was getting quite jealous, which led to anger. Then again, Karkat was quick to anger. Instead of intervening, Vriska decided to let them bicker, and if she needed to, she would step in.

"Just because Vris and I broke up doesn't mean I can't come around here anemonemore. I can still hang with Aranea or Vriska. As a matter of fact, she and I were together earlier, and she was half naked," Meenah stated proudly, smirk stretched across her tanned cheeks. Karkat looked down at Vriska, eyebrows furrowed, silently questioning her on the matter. She papped his cheek lightly, "Oh quit giving me that glare. She barraged into my room while I was getting dressed. Nothing happened."

"Aww, come on, Serk. I had him going there," Meenah whined. Vriska rolled her eyes and tugged on the taller boy's hand. She led him towards the door. "Whatever. We're gonna go now. Karkles and I have some plans that don't involve either of you sticks in the mud. Later, lemme know when mother dearest comes home."

With that, they exited the Serket home. She continued to drag him towards his vehicle until he tugged on her hand harshly. Vriska was pulled against him, and he wrapped his arms around her lithe frame. He chuckled at the shocked expression she wore, "Now that it's just you and me, I can give you a _real_ kiss like you often demand."

"Then do it," she sneered playfully. Karkat leaned down and connected their lips once more. She gripped onto his hoodie, pulling him closer against her. The kiss didn't last long before he pulled away, breaking the connection she longed for. She smiled and detached herself from him, "Come on, let's go."

They loaded up into his car and set out to the destination. Vriska leaned back in her seat, gazing out the window. She was surprised he didn't ask her to be his girlfriend after that kiss. She knew he liked to be romantic, but come on. She wanted to know if this was going anywhere or not. Her heart was already invested into the budding relationship – it scared her, since she may have already been too far gone. Karkat had admitted he felt something for her, but that didn't stop the doubt spreading through her like a wildfire. 

She briefly considered asking him out herself, because fuck all gender roles. She liked this boy and was tried of waiting. Who said men had to be the one to propose relationships? Not Vriska. Despite the pep talk, she decided against it. It would A) crush his pride, and B) not be his idea of romance and he'd say no. Plus she sounded way too much like Porrim Maryam, feminist extraordinare, when giving herself that speech.

She looked over at the young man driving. His hair was always messy, and she sometimes wondered if he even attempted to tame it. It wasn't a bad messy. No, it complimented his looks some how. It was a dark, chocolately brown. It was easily mistaken as black when indoors, but when rays of light hit it, you could see the various shades of sultry, deep brown all throughout his locks. His fluffy bangs covered up his forehead, nearly shielding his eyes. His skin was clear, freckled, and darker than hers. He wasn't incredibly tanned, just a few shades darker than her own porcelain skin. Small specks of freckles dusted his nose and cheeks, making him so much more adorable than he should be allowed to, in Vriska's book. His eyes were an interesting color, and she could get lost in them for hours. If you just glanced at them, they'd appear to be a dark copper. Upon closer inspection, they were a rusty red color. They looked like ruddy garnets. Redwood, mahogany, and crimson shades speckled in his orbs. Thick lashes surrounded his almond shaped eyes. Beneath them, he had some bags, obviously from sleepless nights. She had learned he had issues sleeping awhile back, he even once stated that sleep was the enemy, and the proof of the statement was marked on his face. His lips were thin and chapped (and completely kissable). He was slim, but she knew taut muscles were hidden beneath the baggy hoodie he always adorned. Well, always was going to end soon because that hoodie would be in her possession by the end of the da–

Karkat cleared his throat, causing her to lose her train of thought. He was grinning at her smugly – great, she had been caught staring at him. He teased, "If weren't so busy ogling me, then you would've realized we're here. I get it, Vriska, I'm gorgeous. I get stared at a lot, trust me. I figured you out of all people would be more discreet."

Vriska crossed her arms and turned away from him. She huffed, "Don't get a big head. People only stare at you because you're funny looking."

He rolled his eyes and opened up his door, "Let's go inside before I regret asking you out on a date."

Groaning, she exited the car and looked at their destination. They were at his house. They were just at his house. She did not expect that. Karkat was a bit of a romance buff, so she had expected him to take her to some fancy place or maybe to the fountain in city park and ask her to be his girl there, like in some cliché romance movie. Nope, they were at his house. She wasn't going to complain, but she was confused.

He led the way to the front door and unlocked it. He swung the door open and gestured for her to enter. She did so. He shut the door once he entered, and she twirled around to face him, "So Karkles..."

"Yes, Vriska?"

"What are we doing here?"

He smiled sheepishly and scratched the back of his neck. He continued, "Well, some of us don't have a constant flow of money coming in from their parents. Once dad gets back from Pennsylvania, I think he's there right now, I'll have money again. He's supposed to be back Monday, but sometimes he's late but his fuckass of a boss tends to keep him on sites longer because he's the only one who knows what the fuck he's doing. Until then, I'm running on what I have left from the last time he sent me money. I couldn't afford to do anything fancy today, so movie date it is."

"Oh okay. Fair enough. Where's Kankri at though?"

"Porrim dragged him out. I couldn't care less about what she's doing with him, honestly," Karkat replied, shrugging. He lightly grabbed her upper arm and led her to the living room, "Come on, we've got plenty of movies to watch."

She allowed him to drag her to their destination. He let go of her so he could open up a cabinet. He gestured to the various movies lining the shelf, "Pick one, and it better not be something lame."

She dropped down on her bottom and began to shuffle through the movies. She giggled when coming across ones like "50 First Dates," "How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days," and "The Notebook." She pulled out a few that caught her eye and handed them to Karkat. He skimmed the titles, face twisting up in disgust, "Pirates of the Caribbean? Really Vriska? The Goonies, Spiderman 2, and Office Space? I didn't know you had such a shitty taste in movies."

"If they're so awful, why do you own them?" Vriska huffed, crossing her arms, "I'd like to see you try and pick out better movies than that from your shitty collection. The ones I picked out were the few good ones."

"Fine then. I will," he answered, already pulling out a few movies. After a minute, he held them out to her. She looked through them and immediately bust out laughing. Karkat's brow twitched in irritation, "What's so funny?"

"A-all these are ro-romantic comedies and Will Sm-smith movies," she said, out of breath from her sudden burst of laughter. He didn't seem to find the situation as funny. He snatched the films from her grasp defiantly, "Fuck you. These are spectacular movies. Nic Cage could never even dream of being in a movie as great as these. They all have wonderful plots and the humor is top notch. You wouldn't know what a good movie is even if I literally slapped you with one of these."

His response caused her to laugh even harder. She sat down on the couch and held her sides, which were currently exploding with pain from laughing. He grumbled another "fuck you", before putting one of the movies into the disc tray. He cut off the lights and dropped down onto the couch next to the hysterical girl. Karkat wrapped his arms around her waist, causing her giggling to cut off to a yelp. He layed back on the couch and held her next to him. After the initial shock wore of, she melted into his grasp. He nuzzled his face into her hair as the previews played. She said quietly, "Karkat." 

"Hmm?" He mumbled. He readjusted his grip on her waist, loosening it, but pulling her closer to him. She continued, "We need popcorn."

"We can go without it this once," he answered, voice sounding low against her ear. It caused chills to run down her spine, and she hoped he didn't feel her tense up. If he did, then he made no indication of it. She groaned, "Karkat, we can't go without popcorn."

The title screen for "Just Go With It" appeared on screen, and he leaned up to grab the remote. After pressing play, he threw off his hoodie, tossing it over onto the recliner. He fell back into his spot, placing his arms where they previously were. He replied, "I don't think we even have any. We can check after this movie, m'kay?"

She made a hmming sound, indicating that she heard him. They laid together as the movie played. Karkat would quietly laugh into her hair when a joke was made, and Vriska would tease him for it, ending up with him squeezing her waist as a little act of revenge. Halfway through the movie when Adam Sandler and the kids were taking photos, Karkat couldn't contain his laughter. She rotated in his arms and giggled, "Is it that funny to you? Come on, Karkat, I figured your sense of humor would be better than that."

He quickly regained his composure and prodded at her sides, causing her to squeak. Her face flushed as he spoke, "Really, Vriska? I didn't know you were that sensitive."

He then began to tickle her sides, and she froze up. She melted into fits of laughter as his fingers mercilessly attacked her stomach. Vriska kicked uselessly at him, trying to get him to stop. He laughed at her reaction, "I never knew you were so ticklish, Vriska."

"I'm not. I-I'm lau–ah!–laughing at your at-t-attempts to tickle me-e!" She answered breathlessly. He was having way too much fun tormenting her. She tried to worm out of his grasp, nearly falling off the couch in the process. Karkat quickly grabbed her, pulling her flat on her back. Before she could redeem herself, he was on top of her, tickling her sides again. The air was forced out of her lungs as she started to laugh. Karkat was smiling at her, laughing to himself, as her cheeks begin to hurt from grinning so big. She weakly hit at his upper arm, trying to nudge him off of her. Once her laughs had become quiet from the lack of oxygen and her cheeks were red, he quit. Her chest was heaving as she tried to regain her breath. Before she could, he leaned down and kissed her.

Her body went rigid with shock, since she was not expecting sudden connection. His chapped lips just felt _right_ against her cerulean painted ones. It was an undescribable feeling that she yearned for. It was not long until he pulled back, and she took a deep breath. All the air she recovered had been stolen by him.

He hovered over her, hands planted on either side of her head. Garnet met sapphire as they stared at each other, both faces flushed. He broke the silence, "Vriska Serket."

She said nothing but continued to stare into his shimmering redwood orbs. They scanned over her face before meeting her eyes once again. He continued, cheeks flushing slightly darker, "Will you be my girlfriend?"

"Took you long enough, you dork," she answered, wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling him in for another kiss. At that moment, Vriska was ecstatic. Her heart was racing as his lips moved against hers. He felt the same way – he had to, since he asked her to be his. All the worries left her mind and thoughts of him took their place. She was so, so _happy_ and it had been too long since she truly felt that emotion. The joyful feeling had left her long ago, when everything went to hell in a handbasket. Then, Karkat entered her life. True happiness felt foreign to her at first, but now, it was a welcomed feeling she never wanted to leave.

The broke apart, smiling at each other. He dropped down next to her and held her close. She felt warm all over. The heat spread throughout her like wildfire. Her heart felt light and so did her head. She was high on the feeling.

Realization soon struck her.

This wasn't exactly happiness she was feeling. It was something much stronger, and much less common. True, it had been a long time since she had been happy before he started to pester her. The warm, glowing feeling that invaded her heart and soul was love.

She was in love with Karkat Vantas.

Vriska was completely and truly okay with this. For once in her life, she was filled with warmth and love, and she never wanted the feeling to flee.


	12. Of News and Realizations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kanaya has something to tell Vriska, and she doesn't take it well

arachnidsGrip [AG] began pestering grimAuxiliatrix [GA]

AG: Kanaya, oh my Gog.  
AG: I have to tell you something.  
AG: I'm actually okay with you meddling right now.  
AG: I recommend replying 8ecause this is a once in a lifetime offer. You get to meddle, and I won't mind you doing it.  
AG: Kanaya Maryam.  
AG: Miss Meddlesome FussyFangs  
AG: BeStFrIeNd.  
AG: Get it?  
AG: I'm mocking that clown guy Tavros hangs out with.  
AG: You know who I'm talking about. Gamzee Makara, nicotine-addicted juggalo.  
AG: Ugh why aren't you answering me?  
GA: Hello Vriska  
AG: Kanaya!  
AG: Geez, took you long enough to reply.  
GA: Sorry I Was A Bit  
GA: Preoccupied  
AG: Suuuuuuuure you were.  
AG: I have something to tell you ::::D  
GA: As Do I  
GA: What Is It  
AG: Karkat finally asked me out!!!!!!!!  
GA: Oh  
GA: I Take It You Said Yes  
AG: Well, why wouldn't I?  
GA: Uh  
GA: Im Happy For You But I Dont Exactly Support Your Decision  
AG: I never asked for your opinion, Fussyfangs.  
AG: I just thought I should inform you of the gr8 news.  
AG: Now, what did you have to tell me?  
GA: Uh  
GA: About That  
AG: What?  
AG: Don't keep me w8ing  
AG: I have too many irons in the fire to 8e stalling around like this.  
GA: I Think Id Rather Tell You In Person  
AG: Is it that serious? Don't 8e melodramatic now.  
GA: I Would Never  
GA: Being Dramatic Is Your Thing After All  
AG: Oh haha. Gr8 one, Maryam.  
GA: Yes It Is Kind Of That Serious  
AG: Oh okay  
AG: Well, it's kind of late (not that I care) and I just got 8ack from Karkat's, so I doubt mother dearest would let me come over.  
AG: However, I can sneak out :::;)  
GA: I Feel Like It Would Be Best If You Didnt Do That  
GA: I Would Like To Stay On Your Mothers Good Side  
GA: And I Really Dont Want You Getting Into More Trouble  
AG: Fiiiiiiiine.  
AG: I should add 8uzzkill to your name.  
AG: Miss Meddlesome FussyFangs, the 8uzzkill  
AG: Yes, that sounds wonderful.  
GA: Whatever You Say  
GA: Want to Meet For Lunch Tomorrow  
AG: Are you paying?  
GA: When Do I Not  
AG: Deal. Meet up at twelve?  
GA: Agreed  
GA: Talk To You Later Vriska

grimAuxiliatrix [GA] ceased pestering arachnidsGrip [AG]

grimAuxiliatrix [GA] began pestering carcinoGeneticist [CG]

GA: Karkat I Believe We Need To Have A Talk  
CG: OH REALLY NOW?  
CG: WHAT COULD I HAVE POSSIBLY DONE THAT YOU HAVE DEEMED WORTHY OF SCOLDING ME?  
GA: Place A Bet On Vriskas Heart  
GA: ...  
GA: Im Awaiting A Response  
GA: Dont Think You Can Get Away That Easily Karkat  
GA: Porrim Is Quite Fond Of Your Brother  
GA: I Can Tell Her A Thing Or Two For Her To Relay To Kankri  
GA: I Know How Much You Love To Hear Him Talk  
CG: WHOOPS SORRY I WAS BUSY LAUGHING AT THE CRAZY THEORY YOU ACCUSED ME OF.  
CG: REALLY, MARYAM? YOU THINK I'D ACTUALLY STOOP THAT LOW? I TAKE ROMANCE VERY SERIOUSLY, AND I'M OFFENDED THAT YOU'D FUCKING THINK THAT I WOULD DO THAT.  
GA: Karkat Im Not An Idiot  
GA: I Also Recommend Not Making Bets With A Boastful Person  
GA: Eridan Isnt Very Good At Keeping His Mouth Shut  
GA: Especially When It Comes To Vriska  
CG: WELL FUCK  
GA: Fuck Indeed  
CG: OKAY GIVE ME A MOMENT TO EXPLAIN.  
CG: I DIDN'T PLAN ON THIS HAPPENING.  
GA: You Didnt Plan On What  
GA: Breaking Her Already Fragile Heart  
CG: COOL IT WITH THE SARCASM.  
CG: I'M TRYING TO JUSTIFY MYSELF HERE, AND I DONT NEED YOUR ADMITTEDLY GOOD SASS RIGHT NOW.  
CG: I DIDN'T PLAN ON HER LIKING ME BACK, FOR ONE THING. SHE'S OVERLY CONFIDENT AND SUAVE, SO I DIDN'T ACTUALLY THINK SHE WOULD GO FOR ME.  
GA: You Were Wrong.  
CG: I WAS WRONG.  
CG: THANKS FOR TAKING THE WORDS RIGHT OUT OF MY FUCKING MOUTH.  
GA: No Problem  
CG: AS I WAS SAYING  
CG: I DIDN'T INTEND ON HER ACTUALLY LIKING ME, AND I DIDNT EVEN WANT TO TAKE PART IN THE STUPID FUCKING BET. ERIDAN AND GAMZEE JUST COAXED ME INTO THEIR EVIL TRAP.  
CG: I DIDN'T THINK *I* WOULD ACTUALLY START TO FEEL FOR HER EITHER, BUT I HAVE.  
CG: SO WHAT THE FUCK DO I DO?  
GA: You Got Yourself Into This Mess Karkat  
GA: I Like You As A Person So I Will Try To Help Out  
GA: But There Is No Good Outcome For This  
GA: Vriska Is Very  
GA: Heartheaded  
GA: No Matter Who Tells Her Or How She Is Told About The Bet Shes Not Going To Take It Lightly  
GA: Whether I Tell Her Or You She Will Explode  
CG: WELL THEN I WON'T TELL HER. PROBLEM FUCKING SOLVED. WAY TO GO, THERAPIST MARYAM. SOLVING EVERYONES PROBLEMS SINCE FOREVER.  
GA: Hush I Am Trying To Help  
GA: So If You Dont Plan On Telling Her What Are You Going To Do  
GA: Break Up With Her  
CG: WELL I DON'T REALLY WANT TO DO THAT BUT ITS LOOKING LIKE IM GOING TO HAVE TO.  
CG: ITS EITHER THAT OR TELLING ERIDAN AND GAMZEE TO GO FUCK THEMSELVES.  
CG: WHICH, AT THIS POINT, I WOULDN'T MIND DOING.  
GA: Actually You Cant Just Tell Them That  
CG: WHY THE FUCK NOT?  
GA: Gamzee On One Hand May Not Care Depending On How Much Nicotine He Has In His System  
GA: Eridan However Wont Take Things So Lightly  
GA: He Will Bitch And Moan About It At First But Hes More Likely To Act Out On It  
GA: By That I Mean He Would Tell Her About Your Relationship Being A Ploy To Break A Heart  
GA: Her Heart  
CG: KANAYA, YOU HAVE A GOOD POINT.  
CG: I SEE WHY VRISKA THINKS SO FUCKING HIGHLY OF YOU. YOU'RE ACTUALLY PRETTY GOOD AT THIS WHOLE ADVICE THING.  
GA: Its What I Do Best  
GA: So What Do You Intend On Doing Now  
CG: FUCK, I DON'T KNOW.  
CG: I GUESS JUST LET IT RUN IT'S COURSE. I'LL CONTINUE TO DATE HER BECAUSE I ACTUALLY DO LIKE HER AND JUST HOPE ERIDAN FORGETS.  
GA: I Do Not Think That Is The Wisest Choice  
GA: This Isnt Something Eridan Would Just Forget About  
GA: Someone Is Going To Get Hurt Ultimately In The End  
GA: Vriska Will Undoubtedly  
GA: At This Point All I Have To Say Is Good Luck  
CG: I KNOW I'VE MESSED UP IF *YOU* CAN'T GIVE ME SOLID ADVICE.  
CG: SHIT.  
CG: I'VE FUCKED UP.  
GA: Yes You Have  
GA: Thats All I Wanted To Speak With You About  
CG: WAIT, BEFORE YOU SIGN OFF  
GA: Yes  
CG: ARE YOU GOING TO TELL VRISKA?  
GA: No  
GA: Ill Be There To Dry Her Tears When This Goes To Hell  
GA: Until Then I Will Not As She Would Say Meddle Any Further  
GA: Ill Leave Everything Else Up To You  
GA: Good Luck Karkat

grimAuxiliatrix [GA] ceased pestering carcinoGeneticist [CG]

...

Vriska stood outside a restaurant downtown. Kanaya would be there any moment, and she desperately wanted to know what she had to say to her. Her friend never was very dramatic, (but she was incredibly sarcastic) so Vriska knew whatever what needed to be said was a pretty big deal for Kanaya to treat it this way. She gnawed her lips anxiously as she waited for her best friend.

"Hello, Vriska," a voice called, and Vriska turned her head to see Kanaya approaching her, dressed sharply as ever. She grinned, "Took you long enough, Fussyfangs. Now come on and tell me what a so important that I had to come out here and hear?"

"Ah ah ah. Patience now, Serket," she chided, turning her back to Vriska and entering the restaurant. With an exaggerated groan, she followed her into the restaurant.

The duo was seated at a booth by the window, towards the center of the restaurant. They waited until their waiter left until they begun to talk. Vriska smacked her hands down on the table, "So Kanaya, what's the big deal?"

Kanaya folded her hands and places them on the table. She always looked refined, not a hair out of place. Vriska was slightly jealous of how great she could look at all times. Then again, she usually looked just as good, just without the girly things like skirts and eye shadow. Kanaya said calmly, "We'll get to that later. Let's just catch up right now. How did Karkat ask you out?"

Vriska quirked a brow. She figured Kanaya would want to get the ordeal out of the way. She also usually didn't particularly enjoy hearing about Vriska's relationships – she always disapproved of them. She could never figure out why, but it never stopped her from talking about them. Kanaya was always helpful and supportive (accented by meddling) regardless. Vriska answered, "It wasn't anything spectacular. We were watching some laaaaaaaame romantic comedy on his couch when he started to tickle me. I wasn't greatly affected by it, but I managed to lose my breath. When I was recovering, he kissed me. Then he asked me out. Here we are now."

"Mhmm," Kanaya mumbled while listening. She seemed to carefully ponder over her words, easily detecting the obvious lies. Vriska never really worried about trying to disguise her narcissistic comments. Kanaya knew her too well so there was no point in even attempting to hide the truth. After a moment, she replied, "Well, I'm glad you are happy. Karkat better not hurt you."

"I don't think the poor sap has it in him to do it. He's such a dork," Vriska replied, heat rising to her cheeks. A small smile played on her lips, and she looked down at wooden surface of the table. She added, "Besides, no one can hurt me. I'm invincible."

"We'll see about that," Kanaya mumbled, barely loud enough for Vriska to hear it. The Scorpio was about to call her out on it when their waiter came by with their drinks. He then took their order and left once again. Kanaya continued, "Do you expect things to work out?"

"Well yeah. He's only gotten mad at me once and that's because he got jealous. I told you about all that. He didn't try and take advantage of me when I was shit-faced drunk. He's been a whole lot better than most my past lovers have been," Vriska said honestly. She stirred her drink with her straw while in thought before smirking, "He's a much better kisser too."

"Oh really now? I remember you used to brag about Meenah being great at, uh, making out."

"Okay, he's a better gentle kisser. Meenah was really good at making out. Like, whew. It was intense. Karkat's getting there. He just needs some advice, and I'm a great teacher," Vriska said playfully. The other girl flushed at her words. She began to cackle at the stunned expression. Kanaya brushed it off and continued, "I wish the best of luck to the two of you. And yes, I know you have all the luck."

Vriska huffed as her friend stole her line. The waiter soon brought their food over in record time. They ate and talked aimlessly about little things.

That is, until Kanaya dropped the big news.

"I'm moving," Kanaya admitted in between bites of her meal. Vriska dropped her fork. She swallowed down her food and stared at her friend with wide eyes. Kanaya sheepishly looked between the blue eyes staring her down and her dish. Vriska said quietly, "You're what?"

"I'm moving to New York. There's a fashion school there that I got a scholarship for," Kanaya replied, setting her own silverware down and meeting Vriska's eyes. Vriska visibly flinched. She couldn't move away. No way. For once, everything was going the exact way she wanted it to, and it couldn't be ruined now. She knew her thoughts were selfish, but she could care less about that. In that moment, the one person who had been there for her through thick and thin was moving across the country. Vriska was crushed.

"No. You can't leave. You can't..." Vriska answered, voice faltering. Kanaya worriedly look anywhere but at Vriska then stated, "I'm really sorry, Vris. I had the option to go at the beginning of this school year, but I chose not to because I didn't want to leave you. Now that you have Karkat, I assumed you could be handled with out me."

"Wait. What?" Vriska replied, tone rising. Did Kanaya think she needed someone to watch over her like a babysitter? As if she was going to cause total destruction without a hand on her shoulder holding her back? Vriska's sadness grew into rage as she pondered on the thought. She didn't need to be taken care of. She continued, "I don't need someone to watch over me. I'm perfectly capable of handling myself, because I've always had to. If you were supposed to be my babysitter, why didn't you actually stop me from doing bad things?"

"Vriska–"

"Don't 'Vriska' me! No. Fuck you, Maryam. I don't need someone to baby me. Have fun in New York," Vriska snarled, getting up from her seat. She ignored the call of "Vriska! Wait!" from a familiar voice as she walked out of the restaurant.

...

Her small knuckles tapped on the wooden door. She drop her hand by her side as she waited for someone to answer. After a moment of silence, she knocked again, more impatiently. She heard a call of "Just a moment!" before the door opened up to reveal the elder Vantas.

"Hello, Miss Serket. I take it you're here to see Karkat," he greeted. Vriska pushed a lock of hair behind her ear and nodded. He pursed his lips before continuing, "Well, it would've been better if you had called first, but he's here. Come on in."

Vriska rolled her eyes and entered the household. Kankri shut the door behind her and called out, "Karkat! You have a visitor!"

"Who the fuck is it?" A pleasantly familiar voice replied and Vriska couldn't help but smile. He came out of his room and staggered for a moment when he saw his girlfriend. He reached the bottom of the steps and continued, "Vriska, I didn't know you were coming over. You should've text me or something."

"It was an impulsive decision. I didn't think you would've cared," she said with a small shrug. Karkat looked over at his brother, "You can go now. You don't have to watch over us like some fucking twisted creep."

Kankri muttered something as he left the room, and Karkat yelled to him that he heard that. The younger sibling pulled her closer by the waist and kissed her forehead, "You know I don't care. It just would've been bad if I wasn't home."

"As if you'd have things to do that didn't involve me," she teased, prodding him in the chest. He rolled his eyes and rubbed her back soothingly, "You okay? You seemed kinda distraught when you came in."

She wormed her way out of his loose grasp and crossed her arms. Flicking a lock of hair over her shoulder, she boldly stated, "Of course I'm okay. I don't have problems, and you know that."

Karkat just stared at her – man, everyone has a staring problem. She understood she was pretty, but c'mon – before sighing. He ran his hand down her shoulder to her elbow, pulling her arm away from her chest. He trailed his hand down to her fingertips. Their fingers intertwined, and he said quietly, "C'mon. Let's go up to my room. We can talk there."

"Lead the way, brave leader," she mumbled, letting him guide her down the route she already knew to his room. He shut the door behind him, and she flopped onto his bed. She toed off her shoes, and he dropped down next to her. He started, "So. What's up?"

Vriska was silent. She didn't want to spill everything to him right then. Maybe later, but not right then. She needed to stall. She stood up from the bed and opened up his dresser, pulling out a pair of his sweatpants. She immediately tugged off her jeans, knowing Karkat would look away, and pulled on the comfortable sweats. She looked back at her boyfriend to see him staring at anything but her. She strode over to him, climbed onto the Ber, sat on her knees, and tugged on his shirt, "Gimme your shirt."

"What? No. Just get one of mine from the closet, you fuckass," he replied, no venom in his voice. She groaned, "But I want that one."

"No."

"Pleeeeaaaase?"

"No way, José."

"Who's José? Is he someone I should know about?"

"Vriska, it's an expression."

"Silly Karkat, I knew that. Now give me your shirt."

"Why do you want this one so badly?" Karkat asked, pushing her hand away from him. She gnawed her lip in thought. She wanted it because it would smell like him but admitting that was no fun. (Plus, she wanted to stall a little more.) She then came up with a plan. A devious one.

Vriska swung her leg over him, straddling his waist. She wiggled her hips a little to get more comfortable. The boy beneath her groaned under his breath and flushed. "Vriska, what the fuck are you doing?"

"Nothing really," she nonchalantly replied, leaning forward. She planted her hands on either side of his head and leaned in for a kiss. The blabbermouth started to say something, but she cut him off with her lips.

She pulled back for a moment so he would shut his trap. Karkat leaned up on his forearms to get some leverage. Their eyes fluttered shut, and they connected. The kiss was a simple one. No teeth or tongue. Just chapped lips against smooth, painted ones. After a moment, she sat back in his lap. He seemed momentarily stunned as he stared at her with a blank expression. She giggled at him, and he regained his composure, "What kind of stunt are you pulling?"

She didn't reply, just continued to giggle at him. She pressed their lips together again, this time barely parting her own. Karkat seemed to have no complaints and spread his own. She nipped at his bottom lip playfully, unable to keep the kiss together due to her grin forming. She pulled back, their lips touching as she spoke, "I don't know what you're talking about. I just wanted to kiss you."

She caught his bottom lip again and brought her hand up to his cheek. He moved his own to the small of her back. She held his face as she deepened to kiss, letting out a not entirely fake moan. She moved her hand down his chest, and he broke away from the kiss, "Vriska. For real, what the fuck are you doing?"

"Relax, Karkles. We're just kissing a little. Gosh, you haven't even seen my tongue yet," she teased, guiding his hand down to her waist, "Now, don't be a wimp. I promise we aren't doing anything Kankri would disapprove of."

She pushed him onto his back and dropped her own weight on top of him, barely holding herself up on her elbow. His other hand found her waist, and her lips found his. She needed to step things up a bit. She ran her tongue along his lips and he opened up his mouth. Teeth and tongue clashed as the session grew more intense. Vriska slid her hand down his chest to the hem of his shirt. She toyed with the fabric for a moment before sliding her hand under. His muscles tensed up from her cold hands running over his heated skin, and he grabbed her upper arms, pulling her back, "Vriska Serket. Seriously. What the fuck."

She said nothing as he realized what was going on.

“You were trying to get my shirt by seducing me! Really, Vris? You wanted it that bad? I can't believe you,” he exclaimed, eyes blown wide. She snickered at his reaction. She had been caught. Time to put plan B into action.

Vriska took off her own shirt.

“Vriska?! He screeched, his face resembling a tomato. He froze up, and she couldn't help but grin. She leaned over him and whispered, voice low, “Hey, KK. Something happened to my tee shirt, could I borrow yours?”

Karkat’s cheeks seemed to grow darker, if that was even possible. His mouth was slightly parted, and his eyes were the size of saucers. He barely shook his head, probably trying to clear his thoughts. He shut his eyes and grabbed the end of the tee. Vriska sat back in his lap as he pulled the shirt over his head and threw it at her, “My god, if you want it so bad, here it is.”

She smirked to herself at a job well done. She pulled the fabric over her head and soon enough, her bare skin was covered once again. Her boyfriend's face still was more red than Kankri’s infamous sweater. She rolled her eyes, “Geez, calm down. Its pretty much the same thing as you seeing me in a bikini.”

“I would actually expect you wearing that, assuming we'd be somewhere where you'd need it,” he said, tugging on her wrist to pull her down next to him. She situated herself under his arm, tossing a leg over him. “Well, the bedroom is a place you can expect to see me in just my bra.”

“Just shut up about it already,” Karkat sighed, holding her close. His shirt smelt just like him; cinnamon and spice. Whether it was his natural scent or cologne, she didn't know, but it always seemed to linger around him. She nuzzled into his chest. She always enjoyed being wrapped in his embrace.

After laying together for a few moments, Karkat spoke again.

“So what was wrong earlier?”

“Nothing was wrong,” she easily lied, holding onto him a bit tighter. He ran a hand through her hair soothingly. Sadly, he anticipated her answer.

“Quit lying. You wouldn't have just showed up if you weren't upset in some way. Now tell me what it was.”

She heaved a great sigh and gave in.

“Kanaya is moving.”

“How far?”

“New York.

He didn't say anything for a moment. He just weaved his fingers through her hair as she listened to his heart beat against his bare chest.

“How'd you take it?”

“Called her some names and stormed out on her.”

“What? Why did you do that?”

Vriska pulled herself from their embrace and sat up. She crossed her legs and faced him. Everything was coming back to her, and she felt the burning angry masking hurt all over again. She vented, “Because I had the full right to! She's only stayed this long because she thinks I need someone to watch over me as if I'm unstable. She doesn't give a shit about how I feel. She just doesn't want me fucking things up for everyone else. Kanaya has passed on her role of caretaker onto you, so now she can leave. If she only stayed because she thinks I'm some fucking mess that constantly needs to be cleaned up, then she can leave. I don't need to someone to be my maid when I can do everything myself.” 

“Vriska, you're being unreasonable–”

“Maybe I am! Maybe I am being unreasonable but it appears that's theborse for the fucking day. She never gave any shits on how I felt. Kanaya just meddled to find out about the irons I had in the fire, so she could try and stop me. She never did though! I still did plenty of bad shit. The maid should've been fired.”

“Vriska, stop for eight fucking seconds and think of what you're saying. Kanaya obviously cared about you, you're just too stubborn and dense to realize it. Would Maryam have told you she was moving if she didn't care? No. She would've just left without a word. Would she have pestered the fuck out of me about my intentions with you if she didn't care? No. She would assume you'd be fine. Would she check you out of school when you're having a bad day and talk to your mom so you don't get in trouble? No. She would leave you to suffer around people you hate. Kanaya cares about you. A lot. You're just being unreasonable and an asshole to your best friend.”

Vriska was silent for a moment. She didn't expect him to have valid points. Regardless, she didn't care. She was hurt and pissed. Well, she was less hurt now that he had pointed a few things out, but she was still angry. She didn't want her meddlesome friend to leave. She wanted that support line to stay. She needed it to. She swallowed and replied, “So? That doesn't mean she can just leave me like that. If she cares, why is she abandoning me? Why the fuck would she do that to me…”

Fuck, there went her voice. The stupid lump in her throat was growing stronger. She attempted to swallow it down, hoped Karkat didn't notice, and continued, “If she cares so damn much like you said, would she even consider leaving? Wo–”

“Now you're being selfish. Kanaya cares, but she has a life of her own. People can care from far away. My parents are never home, but I know they still love me. Kanaya has the right to go somewhere that will affect her future as much as you do. If you think she doesn't, then you are one shitty friend. Vriska, you can't have everything. But you have me – I'm not going anywhere. You will still have Kanaya; she just won't physically be here. You may not want him, but you have Eridan. He jumps at any chance to even talk to you, and so does Meenah. You might still have Terezi. She may want to be apart of your life again. You can't have everything, but you still have a lot,” Karkat interrupted. Vriska pursed her lips. He had a point, but she didn't want to admit that.

She flopped back down next to him, burying her nose into the mass of pillows. Karkat rubbed her back and continued, “I know you know I'm right. You don't have to admit it, as much as I would love that, but think about it all.”

“Fuck you,” she answered, muffled voice containing no venom. She heard his deep chuckle and he kept stroking her back calmingly. He said with the same amount of hate, “You too.”

Vriska couldn't help but laugh, and she turned to face him. He raised a brow. She rolled her eyes and snuggled with him. She would talk to Kanaya about it later. In that moment, she just wanted to be with her complete dork of a boyfriend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I bet the summary made you think Vriska was gonna find out about the bet.
> 
> I had you going there.


End file.
